Storm God Naruto
by Kris-dragon
Summary: The Kyubi was not the only thing sealed within Naruto on that fateful night. There was more. And now... Naruto will have grow with both Kyubi as well as with the power of a god. I don't own Naruto! Got me?
1. Prologue

Storm God Naruto

_Prologue_

In the beginning, there was a massacre. A nine-tailed demon fox, Kyubi, has attacked Konoha, the Hidden Leaf Village. The tails were creating massive hurricanes with each swing. Monstrous earthquakes each step. And shockwaves each roar. But even such a powerful beast could not drive the storm cloud away. The beast looked even more terrifying in the heavy rain, which ironically seemed beautiful in whatever moon light broke through the clouds, disturbed only by fire and lightning.

The shinobi of the Leaf were doing everything they could to stop the creature, but no matter what they tried, all was futile. It was not the size of the beast that was the problem, nor was it's power. No. It was rather the fact it was nothing more than chakra that has taken form and substance. And therefore… it was immortal. But the konoha-nin could not just stand there and watch as the beast goes ravaging their village.

"HOLD YOUR POSITIONS AND WAIT FOR THE FOTH HOKAGE TO ARRIVE!" One shinobi screamed. There were some who had hoped that the man known as the Forth Hokage will be able to defeat the demon.

The Kyubi came closer. The youngest of the ninjas were about to run away. A giant paw with razor sharp claws was coming down on them.

But the fox was stopped.

A powerful stream of water hit the Nine-tails, forcing it to move backwards. The konoha-nin who survived moved back, trying to clear the battle ground. The Forth Hokage arrived standing on top of the summoned toad's head. The hokage began to make hand seals. Soon the Forth along with his summon and Kyubi clashed in a mortal combat.

The battle lasted for hours. The storm merely got stronger and stronger. Every second there was a lightning and a thunder, which only made the fire stronger, despite a stronger downpour. To those who watched the battle, it seemed as if the end of the world has come. Barely any forest left. It was hell on earth.

Finally, the Fourth Hokage decided to use the only thing he knew that could stop the fox. He threw several kunais around the demon and to the beast's surprise it was trapped in some strange kind of chains. It tried to move. But couldn't. The champion of the Hidden Leaf formed the "ram" seal and started to molt chakra. His summon was extremely exhausted, but stood ready to assist if necessary. The Fourth however knew the truth. This was going to be his final jutsu.

But the Fox had to be stopped.

No matter the cost.

But the Kage has underestimated the power of the bijuu. The trap began to break. Damn it. The Fourth hasn't gathered enough chakra yet. The toad shot a water bullet in hope to buy some time for his friend. But it failed. Its attack hit and disappeared like it was nothing. Summon was too weak. The demon was close.

Then it happened.

An enormous lightning, from what the witness could tell, hit the ground between the bijuu and a giant toad. A blinding light quickly disappeared. And there was something the Fourth Hokage, the only person to see this, has not been expecting.

The Kyubi was being held by, what it seemed like, a giant figure made of pure storm clouds. It was covered with a cloak with thunders on it. Eight lightning bolts were rotating clockwise just behind its back. Strapped to the figures waist was a massive sword. Or maybe it was a club. The Fourth could not tell. The giant turned around to look at the human, still not letting go of the demon. What the Konoha's champion saw freaked him out.

The eyes. The whites were pitch black. The iris was some strange shade of purple and the pupil, or rather pupils, were shaped like two, vertically positioned, yellow thunders facing one another surrounded by eight yellow points. The Kage knew immediately, who he was facing. The thunder god, Raijin. For only he possess the eye of storm.

The human quickly regained his focus. He knew that even though the god himself arrived to aid Konoha, even he had his limits. The Fox roared. Raijin however stood still. He would not loosen his grab. The demon roared again. The thunder god pushed the bijuu back with all his might and summoned six pillars of pure lightning to restrain the beast. The Kyubi however was not foolish. It swung its tails and threw the attack aside. It charged at the god of thunders. Once within its reach, the bijuu sank its fangs in the arm of its opponent. The two were struggling.

Soon, the Forth Hokage ready. All was in place. He wanted to call to Raijin to stand back, but he looked into the god's eye he understood, that it wasn't an option. He would make a sacrifice of himself if it meant to save the human world. The Kage had no option but to follow the wish.

People of Konoha, who were far away from the fight, in the most secure place of their entire village, were terrified. They kept hear the rumbles, the roars, the screams. The old people were trembling. The children crying and the rest were desperate. Even the shinobi who were guarding the people had fear in their eyes. Everyone was certain they were going to die. They didn't want to thing bad of their hokage. But hope had a mortal facing something that powerful. Sure, The Fourth Hokage had the reputation of the most powerful ninja to ever exist in the world of shinobi. After all, he was the one who single- handily wiped out an entire army during the freshly- ended Third Great Shinobi War. But still, He was a mortal human. Fighting a demon. No. Fighting the STRONGEST of the nine tailed beasts.

There was no hope.

And then… a white light illuminated the sky. The storm ceased and began to clear from the skies as the strange light disappeared with a loud roar of the final thunder. Now the light of dawn shines upon the landscape. Most of the forest burned, they would be green again soon. The Kyubi was no where to be seen. There was only the body of the Fourth laying on the ground. Silence fell upon the terrain. Silence disturbed only by a cry. A cry of a baby.


	2. Chapter 1 beginning of a legend

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto! Naruto is Masashi Kishimoto's and that's final!

"Naruto"- normal speech

'_Naruto_'- thought

Naruto- jutsu name_

* * *

_Ch__apter 1_

_Beginning of a legend_

Sunny morning was in Konoha practically the same as anywhere else. Or so people would like it to be so.

Normally, the people would slowly wake up with a smile on their faces. Wash up. Eat breakfast. Get dressed. Go out side to the streets. Say their good mornings. Get to work, school, and ninja academy or visit others. Yep. That's how mornings should be like.

Not in Konoha however. It wasn't even past ten-in-the-morning and already there were ninja running threw the village. They were chasing someone judging their calls, threats and promises to that someone pay after he or she was caught. Everyone knew who it had to be, who was chased. A small boy, no older then 12 or 13, with spiky blond hair and strange whisker-like birth marks on his cheeks. The kid was running with a bucket full of paint, laughing like a mad man. The villagers, of course, notice what the child was carrying and couldn't help but wonder: _'What the bloody hell did that brat do this time?'_ The answer soon came to them, when they all looked at the Hokage Monument. All the heads had a geisha style make up on their faces, while their hairs were painted pink or blue. The heads of the First and Third hokages however additional writing on them, saying …" I'm an old monkey's uncle". Some of the villagers sweat dropped at the lame text.

"Get back here, Naruto!" one ninja yelled, while jumping off the roof, hoping to catch the kid. He was close. Just a second. An inch. And that preteen trouble maker will be caught. That however never happened. The boy dodged his grab while making a turn into an alley.

"Gimme a break, you guys! Haha!" Naruto laughed while running and making another turn. His pursuers came out on the street and… What the…? Where's that kid? They were looking around for a short, blond kid wearing a chainmail under a red, unzipped midriff with zippers and blue baggy pants, rolled just above the ankles, traditional blue ninja sandals and an orange jump suit jacket tied around his waist. But he was nowhere to be found. That's lame. Home in the world could they lose someone, who stands out like a white paper sheet on a black table. It's unheard of. Even two ANBU ninja, who just wanted to make sure the kid wouldn't be killed, couldn't find him. A minute later, they all scattered. None has even noticed a blank falling down, revealing the brat they were looking for. He just adjusted his goggles, then his armband on his right arm with kanji for "thunder", which a piece of clothing had connected to it, covering the boy's arm just to half his forearm. He was proud of himself.

"Better luck next time, suckers." he said when suddenly he felt someone hand on his shoulder.

"NARUTOOO!" the owner of the hand yelled out. The kid nervously turned his head to face that person.

"Oh, hey, Iruka-sensei." Naruto said, smiling. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What are YOU doing here? You're missing class!" Iruka answered, performing his Loud Mouth no Jutsu, which actually increased his head, making his voice blow strong wind.

**Later, in the academy**

Iruka dragged the trouble maker to the academy. That kid has been causing him so much stress lately. He even wondered how come he still hasn't lost any of his hair yet, which he usually tied into a ponytail. The said chunin, for that was Iruka's rank, looked at Naruto who was sitting, tied up, on the floor in front of Iruka's desk. He was trying to intimidate the young blond with his appearance. After all, he was wearing a standard shinobi uniform: Dark blue ninja long sleeve shirt, same-colored pants, a green vest, a kunai pouch strapped to his waist from behind and a forehead protector on its rightful place. He even expected his scar, which was running from one cheek to another across his nose to build the mood.

But he failed miserably. Naruto was just sitting there as if his sensei wasn't even there in the first place. Iruka tied to lecture him again. Still nothing. That put a thick vein… no, wait. Three super thick veins on his head. That's it.

"Alright everyone!" Iruka said facing the rest of the class." Everyone in line! NOW! We're going to practice transformation jutsu!"

"WHAT?" everyone screamed. How could their teacher punish them all like that for what Naruto did? It wasn't fair.

Few minutes have past and half the class have performed the jutsu. All perfectly. It was now Naruto's turn.

"You know? We wouldn't have to go through this if it wasn't for you." a girl with bright blond hair complained at Naruto.

"Like I care." he answered her with a smile and not facing her. The blond stepped forward with determination. Somewhere at the end of the line, a certain black haired girl with pupil less white eyes was looking at him. Poking her index fingers, with a small smile and a blush she was mentally wishing him luck. Naruto set his hands and form a ram seal. Immediately, chakra began to focus all around him. Five seconds later there was a big puff of smoke that covered him. When it cleared, there stood a teenage, busty, blond girl. She was nude. And gesturing Iruka a kiss. To that view, of course, the chunin's perverted side kicked in. First, he was completely white head-to-toe. Second, his jaw dropped. Third- eyes wide open. Final, he got a nosebleed of such power, he flew back. A second later, the girl turned back into Naruto in a puff of smoke. The kid was laughing hysterically.

"Ha haha! Gotcha! How do you like my Sexy Jutsu?"

"You. MORON!" Iruka yelled at Naruto while performing his Loud Mouth Jutsu "DON'T EVER PERFORM SUCH STUPID JUTSUS!"

**Later that day. The Hokage Monument.**

Naruto hanging on the robes tied to his waist, cleaning the sculptures under Iruka's watchful eyes. None of them was in a good mood.

"Remember, Naruto. You're not going anywhere until you clean ALL that graffiti off the Monument." the older of the two said.

"Big deal. It's not like anyone's waiting for me back home." Naruto talked back. It may have sounded some tough guy's talk back, but the boy actually didn't had anyone. He was an orphan. As long as could remember, he was always alone, without any family. And Iruka knew it wasn't just that.

He remembered well that his troublesome student, for as long as he cared, considered everyone to be against him. And he had reasons for it. Everyone in Konoha hated the boy. They would glare at him. Some would ignore him or try to harm him. There were even those throughout the years, who nearly killed him even. Those haven't dared to touch Naruto, due to the law the Third Hokage, the current Village Leader, has made, still refused to provide him with normal treatment, product prize, medical attention, adoption, anything. The boy was treated like a plaque.

Iruka was thinking for a sec. It wasn't that he hated the youngster. So there was no need to be that harsh on him. Right?

"Listen, Naruto"

"Hmm?" the blond murmured while turning his sea blue eyes to his sensei.

"When you're done with this… social task, how 'bout we go dig ourselves some ramen? My treat." Iruka said smiling. He knew exactly how to motivate the kid, as his spirits rose up and he started to clean the mess at a higher rate. His enthusiastic yells could be heard all over the fire country.

Later

It was nightfall when Naruto have finally finished cleaning the Monument and both he and his sensei went down into the village to get their ramen. Naruto was at his next bowl, eating like there was no tomorrow. Iruka could only wonder where all that food was going.

"Naruto?" he asked. "Why are you doing all this?"

"Hmm? What do you mean sensei?" the blond kid asked.

"I mean the pranks you do. Especially the one you performed on the Hokage Monument. You do know who the Hokage is, right?"

"Yeah"

"So why?"

"Because I intent to surpass them. All of them, including the Fourth. I intent to become the greatest ninja there ever existed. Maybe even become Hokage myself. And then people will have to start looking at me like someone and not like something. I'm going to prove to them that I'm not some trash but the greatest shinobi. Believe it!" Naruto answered with his trademark wide smile on his face. Iruka was stunned by the boy's declaration. He could see in his young student's eyes determination. No, he could see something more. Soon a small smile appeared on Iruka's face. He was suddenly proud of Naruto. The kid may be a troublemaking knucklehead, but he had a big dream he wasn't going to quit.

"That sounds great Naruto. But you know that if you want it to become reality, you do have to work hard." the older of the two said, to which he was given a simple reply.

"I know! That's exactly what I AM doin'!"

"Then how come you're doing such a miserable job so far?" Naruto just gave a sheepish smile to that question while scratching the back of his head. Before the chunin could get the answer however, he was given a bill from the stand owner for all the ramen. Iruka took the bill, examined it… WHAT THE…? His jaw dropped. He turned to face his student, but the blond was long since gone. "UZUMAKI NARUTO! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS! I SWEAR!" He yelled out.

Few minutes later. With Naruto.

Naruto was running through the streets, hoping that his teacher wasn't following him. Fortunately he wasn't. The blonde slowed down when he reached the staircase to his block and started to climb up. Then, at the top floor, and walked to the very last door. He opened the door, stepped through and shut them. He felled save… for merely three seconds. After that he got a strange feeling that someone else was inside his apartment. He was trying to sense where the intruder was hiding. When he came into the living room, he felt some force tackle him and forcing him to lay down. Naruto tried to open his eyes, but found that something was on his face. It felt warm, soft and… '_Oh no_' he thought. Now he knew what was going on. This feeling of being crushed and hugged into something. It was THAT person.

"Hey, Naru-chan! Nice ta see ya!" a girl voice said. She rose a bit from Naruto, so he could make an eye contact with her. The girl, about a year older then him, had purple hair, chocolate brown eyes with no pupils, purple hair tied in a spiky ponytail. A second later, she stood up, helping the blond get on his feet. What annoyed him was that she just kept teasing Naruto about their height difference. After all, he was only 146 cm tall, while she was, surprisingly, 155 cm tall. Right now, she was wearing a black t-shirt, an orange/brown skirt and a necklace with a serpent fang. All which simply her well developed and seductive figure more attractive.

"What are you doin' here, Anko-chan? I thought you're on a mission." Uzumaki asked her. She simply smirked and answered him.

"Well I was. But our team managed to pull it off sooner than we thought. Besides…" She at him. Before Naruto could notice, he was already laying on the ground face to the ground with her sitting on him. Anko was holding one of Naruto's arms in a firm grab, while pointing a kunai to his cheek. "There's no way I would have missed your graduation day tomorrow, Shorty. So I came here to help you better prepare." she said, licking her lips. Naruto saw that in a corner of his eyes and already regretted coming home.

Next morning. Ninja Academy.

All the students were present in the class. They were all wondering about the graduation today. All felt confident.

"Okay everyone!" Iruka announced. "As you all remember, we're have graduation test today! So… You all have to perform a Clone Jutsu." As their teacher announced that, everybody was mentally celebrating. Well, all but one certain blond. "_No! Anything but THAT jutsu! It's my worse!_" Naruto was shivering.

Some time later, most of the class was done. All of those people passed. It was now Naruto's turn. He stood in the middle of the room. The only ones there beside him were Iruka and another chunin, who had silver/white hair. Both were sitting in front of Naruto, waiting for him to get started, so they could judge his performance.

"Alright, Naruto. Whenever you're ready." Iruka said. The boy nodded and took his stand forming a ram seal. He started molting his chakra and after a few seconds… puff. There was smoke. Once it died, there stood Naruto… and his two clones. Well… kind of. Both his clone were dangerously pale and sickly looking. Iruka's eyebrow twitched. "You… FAIL!"

Naruto couldn't believe this or rather didn't want to accept this. He failed for the third time in a raw? He could feel himself falling into the abyss. How was he going to become a great ninja?

"Aw, c'mon, Iruka. I think we could pass him." Iruka's partner said with a warm smile on his face. "It wasn't that bad." After hearing that, boy's hope returned. But…

"No! We can't do that, Mizuki. Making an exception won't look good when compared to the other's performance." Iruka stated. "I'm sorry Naruto. Better luck next time." Naruto, of course, frowned at that. He looked like he wanted to cry.

Night time. Hokage's Tower.

The whole place was dark. There was just one shadow moving across the empty corridors of the building. It was moving fast and swiftly. Soon, it reached a certain door. It opened them. Entered the room and started to search for something. Everything was going smoothly… when the lights turned on.

"What are you doing here, Naruto-kun?" an old voice asked. Naruto turn around, finding an old, wrinkled man with a goatee, who was dressed in a white and red robes standing behind him. The prankster knew immediately it was the Third Hokage himself facing him. He was trying to come up with a good lie, but instead he put his hands to form a hand seal which helps to mold chakra and yelled:

"Sexy Jutsu!" The Hokage screamed like a pervert and fainted with blank eyes and a perverted smile, falling into a small puddle of blood under his head. Naruto quickly dispelled his jutsu a resumed his search. After a few seconds, he found what he was looking for. It was a big scroll. He picked it up. Strapped it to his torso and jumped out the window, disappearing into the night.

Else where.

Iruka was lying in his bed wondering. Something was deeply disturbing him.

_Flashback_

_It was early evening when the graduation exams were over. Iruka was watching the crowd. It was a crowd of parents congratulating their children. Everyone was happy. He then heard some people whispering how clad they were a certain blond didn't pass, saying it would've been a big mistake. He took a look around and noticed his troublemaking student, then ONLY one to fail, sitting on the swing under a tree, depressed and heartbroken, watching the people. Iruka felt some guilt for the boy failure. Maybe he should go and try to cheer him up a bit. That's when the Hokage caught his attention._

"_Iruka-kun? Do you mind some personal talk?" the aged village leader asked him. The chunin hesitated for a moment. He wanted to have a talk to Naruto first, but he noticed Mizuki coming up to the boy, it was decided._

_Both Iruka and the Hokage entered an empty class room. It was hard for the chunin to believe that this room could look so beautiful when empty and lighted by a setting sun._

"_Iruka-kun." The old man started with some seriousness in his voice "I think you're going a little too harsh on the young Naruto-kun. Please, try to understand him."_

"_But Lord Hokage. He's…" Iruka tried to speak, but was cut off by the Hokage when he rose his hand and continued._

"_As you remember, thirteen years ago, the Nine-tails attacked Konoha. I know you lost your family on that day and that you were left all alone. But you at least had someone at the beginning of your journey through live. Naruto however never experienced parental love and was always faced with hatred. And that's because of the villagers' ignorance. They can't see that the boy…"_

_Flashback end._

Iruka was brought back from his thoughts when he heard a knock to the door. He rose up, came up to the door, opened them and faced a frightened Mizuki.

"Mizuki? What happened?"

"It's Naruto!" the silver haired chunin answered quickly. "He stole the forbidden Scroll of Sealing!" To that, Iruka was shocked. "We are to go look for him!"

"Fine! I'll go look in the north part of the forest then and you go to the east." Iruka said and jumped out of his apartment.

Later. Somewhere in the forest.

Naruto was sitting deep in the forest. Behind him stood an old, wrecked hut, on which he bended the scroll he's taken earlier. He wanted to take another look into it. But he was exhausted. But still, he was interested. He was murmuring something about having not much time left to master a good jutsu that learned from the scroll. He tried to pick himself up, when out of nowhere Iruka appeared before him.

"Ha! Found ya!" the chunin said. Naruto just sheepishly chuckle putting his wide grin on his face and scratching the back of his head.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei! I found ya!" Naruto replied cheerfully.

"Idiot! It was ME who FOUND YOU!" Iruka yelled at the blond, performing his Loud Mouth Jutsu. But he quickly regain his cool when he noticed that Naruto was shirtless, which allowed the chunin to examine the troublemaker more carefully.

The knuckleheaded blonde's body was well build for his age. Nearly muscular in fact. The most characteristic however was a thick stripe on Naruto's body. When Iruka first saw it a few year's back, on Naruto's first day in the academy more precisely, it was a simple ocean blue stripe, staring from the middle of his right chest, going up to his shoulder, over it and falling down, ending just an inch under the shoulder blade. The chunin thought then that it was a tattoo. But now, it looked more like an arrow on the back, pointing down, and splitting into five thinner stripes just above the shoulder blade. One was going up his neck. Second held the original track and that one was the thickest. Additionally, it was now shaped like a lightening. The third, along with the fourth, running on his right arm, while the five, the thinnest, was running just under it and ending just an inch on the chest, also shaped like a lightening. It had to be some kind of birthmark as well.

There were some scratches on his body and a lot of sweat, which suggested that he was training himself to death. Iruka scolded himself mentally when he understood. The blonde was training hard after all. Then he noticed Naruto was on his feet.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei" the kid said loudly with lots of enthusiasm in his voice, "I did it! I managed to learn merely one jutsu from the scroll, but still! Now ya have to let me pass!" As soon as Iruka heard Naruto say it, something troubled him.

"Ehm, Naruto? What are you talkin' about?" the chunin asked confused.

"I'm talkin' about the make up test."

"What make up test? Who told you that?" Now Naruto was all confused as well.

"Mizuki-sensei did. He said that if I manage to steal the scroll from the Hokage Tower and learn at least one jutsu from it, I'll pass. That's how you can still become a genin, right?"

Suddenly a thought hid Iruka's mind. Could it be that Mizuki took advantage of the boy? Why?

The scared chunin was about to tell something Naruto, when suddenly his instincts kicked in. He pushed the blonde away and got hit with several kunai knives and shurikens. He was pined to a wall of a hut, bleeding. Naruto was both shocked as well as afraid. What was going on? Was he the target? Did he mess up so badly this time that he was to be killed on sight? His train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice of Mizuki.

"Naruto!" he said loud, standing on a branch of a tree before the hut with two oversized shurikens strapped to his back, "Hand me the scroll! Hurry! Then you'll pass the test!" The blonde was about to do so, even if he was hesitating. And he had reasons for that. What is going on? Why Iruka-sensei was acting as if this test was unheard of? Why did Mizuki have to hurt Iruka? Something just doesn't fit. Naruto finally grabbed the scroll and lifted it. But before he could hand it to the silver haired chunin…

"Naruto! Don't do it!" the wounded chunin shouted, pulling out some kunai knives out of his body. "Mizuki's lying to you! He's betrayed the village and his now tryin' to frame you!" Mizuki looked at Iruka and smirked.

"Oh? I'm lyin'?" He turned to the kid, "You want to know who's REALLY lyin' Naruto?" The blonde's shocked expression said everything. "Do you want to know why everyone in this village hates you so badly?"

"Mizuki! Don't! That's forbidden!" Iruka yelled with sign of pain.

"There was special law created especially so no one would ever talk about it. The law of which only you haven't been told." Mizuki continued, his voice getting more and more villainous.

"Mizuki! NO!"

"A law that forbids us from mentioning the truth about the Nine-tails. The truth it was not killed but sealed inside a newborn!"

"SHUT UP!"

"You Naruto! You were that newborn! This means… you Are the Nine-tailed Demon Fox!" Mizuki finished with a dark smile plastered on his face.

Naruto however a different expression. He was shocked. Afraid. Heartbroken. Betrayed. Even more. It all made sense now. All the glares he was given, all the harsh treatment. It was all because of the Fox. HE was the DEMON, not a child. The blond was so deep into his thoughts and sorrow, he didn't know what was happening in the real world. If he was, he would notice Mizuki preparing to throw one of his big shurikens at him.

"And now, allow me to relief of the pain, you DEMON!" the silver haired chunin said throwing his weapon at Naruto. It was coming in fast. No time react. That spinning projectile would slice him for sure. At least he will give this village what its inhabitants wanted. The demon's death. Everyone will be happy.

But before the shuriken could hit the boy, someone tackled him. Naruto was lying on the ground and could hear the sound of metal shredding through flesh. A second later he felt something warm and wet dripping on him. He looked up and found that Iruka was kneeling over him, shielding him. He was bleeding and crying as well, but he was smiling to the boy.

"Wh-why?" Naruto asked. Iruka quickly answered him with a warm tone.

"Because… we're the same. I was no older then you when my parents died fighting the Fox. I was left alone. No one gave a damn about it. And I hated it. So I became a class clown to draw attention of others. I know what it's like, Naruto. I know the pain of loneliness. But you don't have to be anymore. I'm with you." Naruto was looking at the wounded chunin with a confused look. He didn't know if what Iruka said was true or was it just some trick to torture him before killing. A few more seconds later he crawled out from underneath him, grabbed the scroll and ran of into the woods.

"NARUTO!" Iruka screamed panicking. Soon he heard a maniacal laughter of Mizuki, who now stood next to him.

"Did you the look in his, Iruka?" traitorous chunin started, "These are the eyes of the demon."

"You…" the wounded ninja tried to speak, but was cut off.

"Don't worry, Iruka. I'll safe you for later. For now, I have a certain fox to hunt down" Mizuki disappeared in a blur. Iruka knew, that he must act fast, if he was going to save his student.

Elsewhere in the woods, Naruto was jumping cat-like from one tree to another, the scroll still strapped to his back. He was moving like crazy. If he stops now, someone will kill him, at least that's what he was thinking. He dared not to look elsewhere. Suddenly Iruka appeared next to him, keeping up the pace with him.

"Naruto!" the chunin said loudly, ""We lost Mizuki! Give me the scroll! Together we can handle hi…!" he was cut off when the blonde tackled him. Both fell, Naruto next to a tree and Iruka a few feet away from him. They were both patting. The scarred chunin rose up and glared at the fox kid.

"How did you know I'm not Iruka?" he asked, turning into Mizuki, his real self, in a puff of smoke. Naruto only smiled and also puffed. When the smoke died out…

"Because I'm Iruka!" He said proudly, putting down the scroll, which happened to be a log. The traitor was furious. He was fooled. But then, where was the real Naruto. None of the two chunins knew that the young knucklehead was watching them from behind the tree not too far away from them.

"Why are you protecting that demon, Iruka!" Mizuki asked him. "Have you already forgotten what that demon has done to your parents? Don't you want to make that thing pay for making you an orphan?"

"No." Iruka answered him, "I don't blame Naruto for what happened. His not like that."

"Don't fool yourself. You saw his eyes. The eyes of a demon. Now, he's going to run away with the scroll. And once he learns all of its secrets, he'll return to have his revenge on this village. That's what demons are!" Mizuki shouted the last sentence out. Iruka was trying to catch his breath before he answered.

"Your right, Mizuki." Naruto, after hearing that, was shocked beyond believe. He felt whatever hope he had left leaving him. So Iruka was never there for him. He too hated him. The blonde was about to move, tried to run away, when he heard Iruka say the words that would fire his fires of hope back. "That's what DEMONS are, not Naruto!" The blonde froze at the sound of that. "Naruto may not be the most skillful of my students. He's the greatest troublemaking knucklehead I've ever taught. But I'm proud of him. He always works hard. That's what makes him special. That's why his too different from a demon. He is Uzumaki Naruto of the Hidden Leaf Village!" While hearing that, The boy was crying. So someone did acknowledge him. He was crying uncontrollably, yet he was happy.

Mizuki however frowned at that. He was glaring at Iruka with pure anger. He took the last of his big shurikens into his hand and began to spin it.

"I was going to kill you later" the traitor said calmly, but his voice became sinister, "But I guess I'll start with you after all!" Mizuki was about to throw his weapon. Iruka was too injured to move properly. There is no way he could doge the attack in time. That was it. The shuriken was send flying. The silver haired chunin smirked. That was it for the wounded one. Iruka closed his eyes, ready for death to claim him.

But the pain never came. The scared chunin heard the swirling shuriken stop. He opened his eyes and was stunned to what he saw. Naruto stood just before him, holding the projectile with his one hand. A small amount of blood was dripping, but Naruto merely grimaced. Then he threw the shuriken back at the surprised Mizuki, who barely dodged it. The weapon disappeared in the trees. Mizuki glared at the brat.

"You… YOU…!" the traitor started. But he stopped that Naruto's scratches started to disappear in a hiss. The boy was healing.

"If you lay another finger on Iruka-sensei, I'll KILL YOU!" the kid said darkly, growling. Iruka couldn't help but notice that the blonde's tattoo-like nevus started to slightly glow with a bluish light.

"So the little demon has shown up, huh? Excellent! Now I get ya!" Mizuki was smirking Taking his stance, while Naruto took his.

"Just tried and I'll pay you back tenfold!" the blonde countered, making a cross seal with his middle and index fingers on both hands. Mizuki charged at him yelling.

"Bring it on, Nine-tailed Demon Fox!" Iruka was scared for the boy. He wanted to tell him to run, but what he was about to witness would surprise him mentally for the rest of his live. He heard Naruto say out loud something he did not expect.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" There was a big puff of smoke that covered the entire area. Once it died, both chunins saw that there were dozens, maybe hundreds of Narutos, who were amazed by the fact they were… SOLID! The blonde has actually managed to master an extremely advanced jutsu, which even most jonins, the ninja of higher rank, had trouble with. The traitor was confused, he wasn't certain what was going on. What is this? Then Narutos reached out their hands and a small lightning shot out from their hands, binding Mizuki and holding him immobile.

"Hey, whazzup, Mizuki-teme?" One 'Naruto' asked, "I thought you said you were going to come at me. Well, if you won't come… THEN WE WILL!" All Narutos jumped and the silver haired traitor, who shouted in pure fear. The sound of beating could be heard.

After a few minutes, Mizuki laid on the ground, beaten and unconscious. Naruto dispelled his clones and ran over to Iruka to see, if his teacher was alright. That it was.

"I'm fine Naruto. But… where did you learn that strange lightning jutsu you used to bind Mizuki?" the chunin asked, confusing the blonde.

"I don't know. I just… felt it and it just happened." Was all he could say. Iruka was confused as well. Could it be the fox's power? No, it can't be. Even he knew that lightning wasn't he's element. But still… He stated he'll talk with the Hokage about this later. For now, he wanted Naruto to close his eyes.

"Okay, Naruto. You can open your eyes." The chunin said after a few moments. When the blonde opened his eyes, he noticed Iruka's forehead protector gone. He touched his forehead, and felt something cold and hard. Iruka smile widened. "Congratulations! You are now a genin of Konoha!" Naruto gasped, smiling. He could feel his eyes watering. The blonde was so happy, he jumped at Iruka, giving him a big hug. They both were laughing.

However, deep down in his mind, Iruka knew that Naruto's journey to the position of Hokage has only just began.

Chapter end

* * *

Omake

Naruto and Anko were celebrating his graduation. Both were drinking some juice, laughing. Then Anko said:

"Now, Naru-chan, in two days time, you'll get to know your team as well as you're sensei. Isn't that exciting?"

"Well…" the blonde wondered, "I just hope I don't get someone like your sensei." He answered. Anko froze suddenly. She knew perfectly what he meant. To think it was one year ago.

_Flashback_

_Anko and her two assigned teammates were sitting in the class room, waiting for their jonin-sensei. They all wondered, what he would be like._

_Then, the door was knocked down, as a bulky-looking jonin entered the room, apparently not caring if the door was there in the first place._

_The guy was dressed in a standard jonin uniform, plus some spiky bracelets with a fore head protector tied on his left forearm. The guy also had black, three bladed claws strapped to his waist. But what caught the team's attention was how the guy looked. He was so ridiculously big and bulky. His skin was a bit darker than anybody else's, and under his feline-like eyes were even darker marks. The jonin was bold, had lower jaw set forward, wide face, small, almost flat nose and no eyebrow. He had the most intimidating appearance Anko has ever seen in her live. The guy had some meet in his mouth, which he was still chewing, but didn't look like he cared if other people see it. This actually made his lazy looking expression rather normal. In a few seconds he swallowed his snack, looked at the new promoted genins and put a smile on his face._

"_Hello there, little people!" he said with a rather dark sounding deep baritone. That's when everyone noticed the giant had sharp, feline teeth. "My name is Nekokage Kuromaru. But you people may call me Kuro-sensei. Here," he said picking up a chalk, "…let me spell that for you." He turns around to face the blackboard and began to write on it. There was a horrible screech. Anko and her assigned teammates felt horrible goose bumps as well as a terrible pain in their teeth. They managed to notice the glass in the room, maybe in entire academy, break a second after he the noise started. Anko could barely keep her focus on the surroundings when she noticed one of her fellows trying to knock himself unconscious. Unfortunately, he either couldn't hit his head in the desk hard enough, or the screech was to annoying to be unconscious._

_Suddenly there was silence. The genins took a look at their jonin-sensei and noticed he was looking at them. Then, Anko saw something that would actually scare her._

_The guy was smiling. He was enjoying himself doing that._

_So he continued. Ah, the pain._

_Mean while in Konoha, the people started to cry. They could all hear that horrible screeching. The animals were acting like crazy, especially in the Inuzuka compound. Even in the Torture and Interrogation Department, a certain konoha-nin with two scars on his face, who was in a middle of interrogating some criminal, tried to cut the noise out by plucking his ears, while his prey cried he'll start talking, if only they make that screech stop._

_Elsewhere, in the Hyuga compound namely, all the Hyuga began to cry, while their byakugan active. This was worse a torture. Everyone in the village wished the screeching stop. Even the ANBU in the academy ran away to find a quiet spot._

_Finally. Silence._

_Anko opened her eyes and noticed their sense' finished. He faced them smiling._

"_I'm going to be your sensei. Yes sir. From now on, you're all under my care on your way to becoming powerful shinobi." He looked at them and noticed they couldn't pull themselves together yet after his writing period. He showed them a grin. "Looks like you can't handle the pain yet. That's too bad. Guess I'll have to start writing some more" They all paled._

_Flashback end_

"Yeah," Anko started to shiver, "wish you a better one than mine." She sweat dropped.

Omake end

* * *

A/N. Hope you liked the chapter. Please review.

Bio:

Name: Nekokage Kuromaru

Age: 31

Height: 196 cm

Blood type: AB

Affiliation: Hidden Leaf Village; team 12

Rank: jonin

Stats: Taijutsu- high; ninjutsu- good; genjutsu- average; strength- super high; stamina- high; intellect- high; chakra- super high, speed- good.

Special skills: high pain endurance, weapon master.

Name: Mitarashi Anko

Age: 14

Height: 155 cm

Blood type: A

Affiliation: Hidden Leaf Village; team 12

Rank: genin

Stats: Taijutsu- good; ninjutsu- average; genjutsu- good; strength- good; stamina- high; intellect- high; chakra- good; speed- good.

Special skills: terrain adaptation.


	3. Chapter 2 The grandson, the team

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto! Naruto is Masashi Kishimoto's and ****that's final****! **

"Naruto"- normal speech

'_Naruto_'- thought

Naruto- jutsu name

* * *

_Charter 2_

_The grandson, the team and a lazy sensei_

Morning. Hokage Tower.

Naruto was sitting before the Third, discussing further the details of Mizuki incident. The aged Hokage actually just wanted to know more about Naruto's abilities, namely the lightning jutsu Iruka mentioned in his report earlier. So far, it looked like Naruto was able to perform that jutsu unconsciously, when in stressful situation. When the village leader along with the blonde genin learned later on, that he could now perform the jutsu like any other, making to hand seals, namely 'ram' and 'snake', in advance, they dubbed it Stunning Light Whip. The Hokage wanted to talk some more to Naruto. About his photo that is, where he was looking away. Apparently the Fox container just wasn't trustful enough yet and didn't want to show up to people as bad as he presumed.

Then the office door was opened and a small kid, about eight-years-old boy, entered.

"Alright, old man! I challenge you for the position of hokage!" The child cried out and charged. However, he tripped over his too long scarf and fell, face first, to the ground. Well that was lame. Both Lord Hokage and Naruto sweat dropped. Then a strange guy with a bandana and sunglasses, wearing a standard jonin uniform, minus the green vest, entered.

"Excuse me, Lord Hokage. Have you seen…" he looked around and gasped as he found the eight-year, who was trying to get on his feet, " Oh Honorable Grandson! Are you alright?"

The child however ignored the man and pointed towards Naruto.

"You! You tripped me!" the "Honorable Grandson accused the blonde. That ended up with him getting some tick marks allover his body. He stood up, grabbed the eight-year by the shirt and lifted him.

"You tripped over your own scarf, you idiot!" Naruto scolded him, which made the jonin interfere.

"You! Unhand the Honorable Grandson, you foul one! How dare you touch the grandson of the Third Hokage like that?" he said. Naruto looked at him and back and the eight-year. The thirds grandson was thinking this guy was going to let him go and apologize. Just like everyone else. Everyone was surprised however when the knucklehead blond head-butted him and then threw him to the far corner of the room, apparently unaffected with the boys weight. He threw him like an empty can. Again, everyone was shocked. No wait. That would be an understatement. Naruto was about to get out of the Hokage's office, when…

"I don't give a damn if you're his grandma, brat!" he simply stated and disappeared behind the door.

* * *

15 minutes later. Konoha streets.

Naruto was walking down the street thinking about what ramen to eat today at 'Ichiraku's', his favorite ramen stand. Should he order his favorite miso ramen or maybe pork. Or maybe he could one he didn't have for months. Or maybe…

The blonde suddenly turned around. He noticed nothing special. No one was following him after all. Wait a second. Something's not right here. He notices a failed attempt to hide under a camouflage clothe. He pulled it away and found the Third's grandson, who was both surprised and smiling at him.

"Ha ha. You found me with no problem" he said. "Guess what people say about you is true. You really are a great ninja" Naruto just got more confused, and then the answer came. " I want YOU as my new SENSEI" the kid said proudly. Naruto was stunned.

"Forget it." The fox container answered lazily, "I'm not THAT stupid." He started to walk away. But the eight-year, once he got over his shock, quickly started to follow him.

Several hours have passed since the two meet. Surprisingly, Naruto came to like the little guy. He learned that Konohamaru, for that was the Third' grandson's name, was just like him, in a way. The child was always percept only as the Hokage's grandson and he hated it. So Konohamaru wanted to show every villager of Konoha, that he was someone more then just that. He wanted acknowledgment. Naruto understood him perfectly, but scolded him for his stupid attempts to assassinate the Third to take his hat. He explained that the path to such great position was harder then believed and had no shortcuts. Oh how right he was. For the position of the hokage is not to be taken, but to be earned.

* * *

Meanwhile, on top of the Hokage's tower.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, watched the Hokage monument with sad eyes. What was on his mind no one could tell, but clearly he was regretting something. Pipe in his mouth was letting out a slight smoke, while a bigger cloud of it was blown out of the wrinkled man's mouth. Soon, Iruka, covered in bandages, arrived and bowed behind the village leader.

"Iruka. I fear for Naruto." he said with a said tone.

"With all respect, you worry too much, Lord Hokage. Naruto's stronger than he..." Iruka was cut off by his superior.

"Iruka. You know that Naruto's smile is just a fake to hide his pain. When the fox attacked, the Fourth Hokage had no choice but to seal it inside the newborn's belly. It was the only way to stop the demon." Iruka's expression's got serious, "The Fourth wanted for the villagers to see Naruto as a hero, who keeps them save. That was his dying wish. However, humans' ignorance and pain blinds them. They were all ready to kill Naruto the first chance they got. Even the council was with them. That's why I set a law that forbids them from even mentioning about Naruto's status. I even set several trusted ANBU enforcers to watch over Naruto and interfere when necessary. The younger generation, which knows not of the Nine-tails, is the only hope for Naruto for a normal life." Hiruzen turn to Iruka, "Do you know, what they say about people who hate, Iruka-kun?" The chunin shook his head. "They say that their eyes… are the coldest there are."

* * *

Elsewhere.

Naruto and Konohamaru continued to talk. The sun was setting, making the sky gold. The birds were quieter, the bats began to fly, and crickets began their melody.

The Boys' talk was soon interrupted by the ninja who was following Konohamaru earlier. Ebisu was his name and from what the young Sarutobi said, he was jonin assigned to instruct him. Naruto managed to see eyes under these circular sunglasses of his. They were glaring cold. The blond hated it. Why does everyone have to give him this kind of eyes.

Ebisu jumped of a branch, from which he found the boys, and slowly walked over towards them.

"Oh Honorable Grandson" he started, "Let's go back home and resume your training."

"No!" Konohamaru cried, "I don't want to go with you! I want stay with Naruto longer!"

"Humph! You have to be joking. Dealing with the likes of him will never do you any good. He's far below you." Ebisu said proudly. Naruto however wasn't very happy with that. How dared he say something like that? Now he was going to show him. He made a cross seal and yelled:

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" There was a puff of smoke, which later revealed about thirty Naruto's, including the original. Ebisu however just chuckled. He was no Mizuki. Numbers of the knucklehead was insignificant. However he did not expect this: "Transform!" All the clones performed the Sexy jutsu. Ebisu was shocked. Head hunk on ridiculously thin neck, jaw dropped, while the naked females run over to him and started to seduce him. The jonin suddenly got a strong nosebleed, which sends him into the sky, only to end up with him landing just a few feet away from the harem. Naruto canceled everything. "Yeah. I call this one Harem Jutsu." He confessed proudly.

The knucklehead didn't know, but he was being watch by the Hokage via his crystal ball, threw the entire encounter. The old man was somewhat happy that the boy still had some sense of pranks in him. But was also disappointed when he saw HOW the prankster one his fight. But he also admitted to himself, that even he would be caught by this jutsu.

The two boys went somewhere else, away from the jonin. Konohamaru declared that he would now improve the Harem Jutsu and defeat his grandpa. Naruto however scolded him for his stupidity. He reminded him what he said earlier: that the position of a hokage is not taken. It is earned. With that, he declared: "From now on we're rivals. If you want to become hokage, you'll have to beat me!"

The eight-year was frustrated and accused the blond of showing off. However, that was short lifted and the two began to see each other as close friends. Maybe brothers.

The Third couldn't help but smile when he saw this.

* * *

Next day morning.

The streams of light were striking Naruto's face, gently waking him up. It was as if the sun was always there to welcome him. The boy shrugged at first. But that didn't last long. He liked the way he would always get up. Especially since it was always in time before the alarm clock kicked in. he quickly reached for it and turned it off before it rang. He stretched out…

Wait a minute. Something's out of place. Why did his sheets fell heavier than normal? He ran his hand down the sheets and felt something was underneath them. He quickly jumped out of the bed and pulled of the covers.

He soon regretted that.

On his bed was laying a sleeping form of Anko. Apparently her body still hasn't registered that Naruto was gone as she continued to cuddle, making her purple, oversized shirt, which served as her nightwear, reveal some of her cleavage. Naruto sweat dropped, blushed and sighed at the sight of that. Then he screamed so loud, the entire village shook. And the sound a fist hitting a head could be heard.

* * *

Later. Ninja Academy.

Naruto was sitting behind the desk in his usual spot. He was obviously still irritated with Anko's act this morning. But he rather wanted to avoid her for a time being. Anko wasn't someone who would let him scold her for her stunts. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as the last time. Before, when Anko sneaked into his bed, she was naked. Oh man.

Anko indeed was one of the few not to hate him, but this was ridiculous. Why is she so forward? He knew she was more than meets the eye. Anko, as far as he could remember, was always cheerful, easygoing, hyperactive, loved pranks and even had something of a sadist. But the blond knew that she was actually warm and hurt on the inside. Just like him. Maybe that explains her attitude. Unlike him, Anko didn't feel acknowledged at all. Even the fact of having an older cousin didn't help her.

Whatever. He liked to think of her somewhat like a sister. She however always crossed the line with sneaking into his apartment and into his bed.

Naruto was suddenly caught out of his thoughts by a kid with the laziest expression possible on human face. He had dark hair tied into a ponytail, had little, brown, weasel eyes and gloomy voice.

"Hey, Naruto." the kid said. "What are you doin' here? Only those who graduated are allowed here today."

The blond just Grinned at him showed his forehead protector tied around his neck, which actually looked good with his clothing. "Ya see that, Shikamaru? This is the proof that I'm a genin as well as you." He chuckle. The lazy-looking boy decided not to drag the conversation any further, as he found it to be too troublesome.

However, at the far back end of the room, A dark haired Hyuga, who were recognized by their white eyes, smiled as she saw the blond. She was clearly happy for the Uzumaki kid to have passed.

Few minutes later, someone rammed the door opened. There were two girls fighting over who gets to enter first. Naruto knew them all too well.

The first one was Yamanaka Ino. She had long, bright blond hair tied in a ponytail, bright blue, pupil-less eyes, thin body and wore a purple top along with a purple skirt. She also had some bandages wrapped around her legs and torso. Ino had her forehead protector tied around her waist.

The other girl was Haruno Sakura. She had long pink hair, emerald eyes, big forehead and average body build. She wore a red dress, green/blue shorts and green ninja sandals. She wore her forehead protector like a robin. Naruto remembered how he used to have a crush on her during their academy days. However he gave up on her when he landed in a hospital a year ago because of her.

He didn't hate her, but neither did he like her. As far as he cared, she was just a brutal, loud banshee.

The two girls have finally managed to enter the class room and ran over to the desk and glared at Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto!" Sakura started to yell, "Move aside, idiot! I want to seat next to Sasuke!" Naruto didn't bunch. Then Ino came in closer.

"Say Naruto." she said in a calmer yet commanding tone, "Move it, will you. I'd like to take a seat next to Sasuke."

Naruto turned his eyes to them. Then away. He didn't feel like telling them anything. That pissed them off. How dare he ignore them? They both backed their hands to deliver a punch, but when they were about to hit him, Naruto just ducked. And so their punches hit Sasuke, the best student in the group.

Uchiha Sasuke. The most popular guy in class. And the grumpiest of them all. He was always like this since five years ago, when his entire clan was wiped out. Sasuke wore a dark blue, high collar t-shirt and white short. He had onyx black eyes, short, black hair light tan skin. All the girls practically worshiped him. And now, two of the just hit him.

What the hell? Ino and Sakura were just about to hit Naruto. How did it happen that they hit Sasuke instead? That can't be!

Before anyone could do anything, Iruka entered the room. Sasuke, who pulled himself back together just ignored him and glared at the blonde. How did he manage to dodge a punch at such short range? Iruka quickly however stopped the Uchiha's train of thoughts.

"Good day, everyone!" he said smiling, "Once again, I'd like to congratulate you on becoming genins. Now you're on your way of greatness. The possibility to fulfill your dreams is now an open doorway." He paused to look at everyone and saw determined faces everywhere. Especially Naruto. Iruka's smile got bigger and he continued. "Don't take it the wrong way, but live of a shinobi is a rough one. I won't lie to you. Chances of your deaths are high. Those of you who are lucky might just loose a limb. But don't let that stop you from going onward. The fact you became shinobi is already prove that you will survive. You are strong. ALL of you! And you'll all just get stronger." After hearing that, everyone cheered. As soon as the all quiet down, with the help of Iruka's Loud Mouth Jutsu, Iruka picked up a clipboard.

"Now… I'm going to tell you what teams you're all assigned to. I'll read the team number first and then who's assigned to it. Let's begin, shall we? Team 1…" Iruka began.

Naruto wasn't really paying attention now. He was wondering who he will have on his team. He didn't mind Sakura that much, though he didn't want to be with her. And certainly didn't want to be with Sasuke. He was hoping for Shikamaru. He may be lazy, but didn't mind the blond. Before he could think who else could be fine with, he heard Iruka's voice.

"Team 7 will be: Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura…" the brunette didn't flinch, while the pink hair girl cheered, "…and Uzumaki Naruto." Wham! That sound caught everyone's attention. They saw Naruto's head broke through the desk. Seems like underestimated his own strength and hit the furniture too hard. He quickly rose up and pointing to his new teammates he complained.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei! Is this some kind of a cruel punishment or a stupid joke? Why am I stuck with Mr. Arrogance and his number one fan girl?"

Iruka sighed and answered, "Sorry Naruto. But considering your… lower marks, Lord Hokage has decided this team will be best suited." Naruto hit his head in the desk, again, and made another hole, AGAIN! It just couldn't get any worse.

* * *

20 minutes later. Outside the academy.

Naruto was sitting on the bench. He was brooding something under his nose, while holding some strange marble and a blackboard eraser in his hands. He was most likely preparing a new prank. Just when he was about put them together, something draw his attention. It was Sakura. She walked over to him and didn't look like she was in for a friendly conversation.

"Idiot, have you seen Sasuke?" She asked him. Naruto gave her an annoyed look.

"No." was all he said and returned to what he was doing earlier. "Now you mind leaving me alone for now. I'm also in a bad mood today."

Sakura however was mad. Naruto dared talk to her like that? By what right? Even though he was no longer crushing on her, he still annoyed her. She hit him in the head, hard, making him fall off the bench. She was about to kick him now, when she stopped and jumped away when she saw the boy catch the bench with one hand and swing it to hit her. Once she landed, she had to duck quickly as he threw it at her. Looked back at the bench the kept flying until it hit a tree about 16 yards away. She was shocked. Was Naruto always this strong? She looked back at him at saw that he was somewhat freaked out by his own doing. He started to run. Away from her. He was… crying?

Sakura wondered for a second what was that all about, but dropped it of as soon as she saw Sasuke nearby.

"Oh Sasuke. I finally found you. Do you want to eat lunch with me?" she asked him in a happy tone. He looked around and saw a broke bench by the tree further away.

"Who did this?" he asked her in a cool tone pointing to the subject of his curiosity.

"Oh that? That's Naruto's doing." Sakura answered him coldly, obviously trash talking about his blond teammate. "But why bother about that idiot? It's not like we need to take the blame for his stupidity. You know, if parents knew I was doing things like he does, I would be in big trouble. That's why he's so annoying." She continued. Sasuke however wasn't taking this well.

"He's lonely." he said.

"What?"

"You don't know what it's like to be alone. He's acting the way he acts, because he's alone. Unlike me he never had parents, so he envies others. He hate being alone." He turned to the pink haired girl to give her a cold glare. "So don't you dare talk like you knew better!"

"Sa-Sasuke? Why are you saying that?"

He started to walk away. "Because you're annoying."

* * *

Two hours later. Inside the academy.

The room was empty, except for the assigned Team 7. Sasuke was just minding his business. Naruto was setting the eraser on the top of the door and Sakura was watching him.

"Naruto? What are you doing?" she asked.

"Oh just a little punishment for our sensei for being late. That's all." he answered her.

"Idiot. You really thing anyone will be stupid enough to fall for this?" Sasuke cut in. He didn't believe Naruto's prank will succeed. Soon enough.

The doors have been opened and the eraser fell on someone. Once it bounced off him, the eraser exploded and the man entering the room was covered in ink. Naruto chuckle lightly, Sakura was shocked at what happened and tried to apologies for the stupid prank, although deep in her mind, she was laughing hard.

The victim of the prank quickly cleaned himself and everyone could now take a closer look at him. A jonin, about 25-28 years old. He was wearing traditional jonin uniform, had his forehead protector covering his left eye and a mask covering bottom half of his face. The jonin had silver hair, which did not give in to gravity and his visible right eye was half open.

The guy looked at them and said: "My first impression of you… I hate you guys." The genins were shocked. "Meet me at the roof in five minutes." he said and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. That was a body flicker technique, shunshin if preferred.

* * *

Five minutes later, all four were on the roof. The silver haired jonin was sitting on a railing, while the genins sat on what looked like stairs.

"Okay then." he started "Fancy seeing you three made it. So how about we start from introducing ourselves to know each other?"

"Ehm, sensei? What exactly would you want us to say?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Oh you know, the usual. Your names, likes and dislikes, hobbies, dreams, something like that." The jonin answered while scratching his chin.

"Well then, why don't you start for an example, sir. We don't even know you." Sakura said.

"Hmm. Fair enough. My name is Hatake Kakashi. There are many things that I like and many things I dislike, so I won't bother telling you. As for my dreams… hmm. Never really bothered thinking about that part. My hobby is very interesting." He gave them, what it looked like, judging by his closed eye, a smile. The rookies however were annoyed.

'_Great. So we learned his name at that's all. What an example._' The pink hair girl thought.

"Okay then. Now that you know what I expect to hear… Why don't you start, Blondie?" Kakashi asked, pointing to Naruto.

" Okay." Naruto said with some hint of enthusiasm, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, training my self like there's no tomorrow. I dislike the three minutes it takes to prepare ramen, when I have to cut my training short and when people judge others without even getting to know them. My hobbies, formally pranks, and at the present, training, watching thunder clouds when on sky, training hard. And my dreams for the future is to one day become the greatest shinobi to ever exist, both in the past as well as in the future. Maybe even hokage. So that people will stop disrespecting me and see me for someone. Somebody who's worth attention and respect."

Kakashi's eye almost popped out. He was surprised by the boy's maturity. He already dreamed for something so great and did not want to turn back from it. '_He certainly had an interesting way of growing up._' He thought. Then he pointed to Sakura, letting her know to start.

"Um… My name is Haruno Sakura. I like…" She started to blush, turning her eyes towards Sasuke and back every second, " a person I like is…. (giggles)… My hobbies are… and my dream…" She smiled like a pervert. Then she got angry and stated "I hate Naruto!"

Naruto felt. What was her problem. He did give up on her a whole year ago, so why was she still so hostile.

Kakashi sighted. 'Guess girls are moody at this age.' He thought to himself. Let pointed to Sasuke to introduce himself.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are not many things that I like and there are a lot of things that I hate. I have no hobby. And what I have I wouldn't call a dream, but rather an ambition. I intent to kill a certain man… and restore my clan." The air got cold. The three people around the Uchiha had different thoughts.

'Sasuke is so cool.'

'Hope he's not after me.'

'_So it is as I thought. Great. So this year I get revenge-obsessed emo, a fan girl banshee and a kid, that sounds like afraid of everyone around him. This'll be fun._'

Kakashi got off the railing and stood up, letting the three rookies know to remain sit. "Okay. That sure was interesting." He started. "Now I have some news for you. You're still not genin yet." He was eye-smiling when he announced that. All three were shocked. "Tomorrow you'll have a real test."

"Wait just a damn minute!" Sakura panicked, "We just already have taken AND passed the test!"

"Oh you mean that academy stuff? That was just to know who's good for ninja already and who the weakling is. Tomorrow, meet me at the Training Ground 7 at 0600 hours. Oh and don't eat breakfast, or you'll puke." With the last sentence, the one eyed jonin disappeared via shunshin.

The next day. Dawn. Training Ground 7.

Naruto has woken up. He was all nervous if he didn't pass this test, he would commence seppuku (suicide). He can't fail this one. He was sitting on the bed and thinking about what to expect. He sat there for five minutes.

About 40 minutes later he arrived to the meeting spot. The blond wore today orange pants, red, sleeveless shirt, the usual armband, forehead protector around his neck and his orange jacket wrapped around his waist. His shuriken pouch strapped to his waist and the kunai holder to his right leg. Naruto found that he was the first to arrive. So he jumped up the tree nearby and fell asleep.

Chapter end

* * *

**A/N. Hope you guys like the story so far. Next time is the big test. Please review.**

Bio:

Name: Uzumaki Naruto

Age: 12/13

Height: 146 cm

Blood type: B

Affiliation: Hidden Leaf Village, Team 7

Rank: genin

Stats: taijutsu-good; ninjutsu- average; genjutsu- weak; strength high; stamina-high; intellect- weak; chakra-high; speed-average/high

Special skills: ?

Explanation: Considering Naruto's situation, his powers are yet to be revealed in full. However, currently, Naruto possesses:

-Super human strength, speed, reflexes, endurance, agility, stamina (enhanced via running from the mobs);

-Healing factor, which accelerates due heighten adrenaline level;

-Inhuman chakra supply;

-Lightning manipulation (though possible access to controlling other elements);

-Enhanced danger sense, allowing him to react quicker and more precisely than normal ninja (Note: this power is yet undeveloped, so it kicks in randomly)

Naruto's powers are probably somehow related to his "stripe(s)" on his body, which reflects the number of powers. And their development.

Theory: unconfirmed.


	4. Chapter 3 Team test

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto! Naruto is Masashi Kishimoto's and ****that's final****! **

"Naruto"- normal speech

'_Naruto_'- thought

Naruto- jutsu name

* * *

_Charter 3_

_Team test_

Sasuke and Sakura were on their way to the training ground their sensei told them to. On their way there, Sakura kept trying to get him on a date, but the response was always the same: failure. He was getting annoyed with her. The Uchiha actually believed her to get in his way in everything.

Finally the two arrived at Training Ground 7. And not only were they just a minute earlier, they were first to arrive. Or so they thought.

The two suddenly heard some snoring. Someone was sleeping nearby? Who? Who would be willing to sleep here? They were looking around, but couldn't find the source of the snoring.

A minute has passed. Still nothing.

Finally they found the noise maker. It was Naruto. He was sleeping in a tree. How could he be sleeping at the time like that?

"NARUTO YOU IDIOT! WAKE UP!" Sakura yelled at him. The blond, in the shock of surprise, lost his balance and footing, and fell off the tree to the ground, head first.

He wasn't moving. Sakura got scared. Did she kill him? What if she and Sasuke will be removed from the shinobi program because of the incident? She shook him a bit. Nothing. This was bad. She leaned down to check his pulse.

His eyes opened. Sakura jumped back away freaked out. "Eek! A zombie!" she cried.

Naruto whined in pain, caught his head and, painfully, sit. He opened one of his eyes and looked at the pink haired banshee.

"What in damnation? I'm alive!" He yelled out and then added quietly "yet." After a few seconds he got on his feet and yelled at Sakura. "What the freakin' hell is wrong with ya, Pinky? Ya tryin' to kill me? A simple way to wake someone up is that hard?"

"Hey!" Sakura yelled back at him, "Don't you dare talk to me like that, idiot! And how can you be sleeping while Kakashi-sensei might be here any time soon?"

"So it's that time already?" the blond asked simply.

Two hours have passed. The two were still waiting. Was their sensei thinking so little of them? Were they really not worth his attention? Or maybe the test has already begun and they failed to notice? No, that can't be.

"Where is that guy?" Sakura yelled out loud.

Finally, they noticed someone approach them. It was their sensei.

"You're late!" Both Naruto and the pink haired kunoichi yelled at him, though Naruto didn't jump out at him, which didn't go unnoticed by the one-eyed jonin. He however wasn't affected by the accusation at all, as if he was ignoring them. Still the same, lazy, unconcerned expression on that masked expression.

"Sorry I'm late. But when I woke up this morning, I found my apartment has been stolen, so I had to go find and retrieve It." he excused himself in a calmly tone. However…

"Liar!" Sakura screeched, while Naruto was glaring at him and Sasuke was ignoring everything. Kakashi just sighed and show them to follow him.

A few minutes later they reached small field next to a small river. In a center of it, there were three wooden poles standing and some strange crystal-like monument just a few feet away. Kakashi told turned to face them.

"Okay then," he started, "it's time we began our test. And just to get you more motivated, this test has about 66 % failure possibility." The three were shocked to hear that, while their sensei just eye-smiled. What kind of motivation was that? Then the jonin took out two bells on a string and an alarm clock. "Your test is to take these bells from me. Those of you who get the bells will graduate."

"But, Kakashi-sensei. There are only two bells and the three of us." Sakura pointed out.

"Good observation. That way I can tie one person, namely the failure, to one of the posts and…" Kakashi reached out his free hand and in the puff of smoke there were two bento boxes "make that person watch as I eat my lunch."

Just then, the kunoichi's stomach growled. A second later there was another growl. This time it was Sasuke. Only the blonde's didn't growl, but everyone overlooked it, stating he wasn't that hungry just yet. '_So that's why he told us not to it breakfast. What a sly fox._' the Uchiha thought.

"You have time until noon, which makes it 3 hours." The jonin told them, as he placed the alarm clock on a flat stone nearby. "And I suggest you to come at me with the intent to kill if you want to have any chance of succeeding."

"But sensei. We don't want to hurt you." Sakura said in a worried tone.

"Oh don't worry about lil' ol' me. I'll be fine." He took his stance "Begin!"

Everyone disappeared. Kakashi looked around. He could see where they were hiding. Sasuke was hiding in the nearby trees to the south. Sakura hid in the bushes to the east. '_Good. Their taking this quite…_' His train of thought was stop when he noticed the last of the three genins. His eye popped out.

Naruto was sitting on the ground just a few feet away from Kakashi. His legs crossed. Arms too. Eyes closed. Like he was thinking and not worrying about the fact that his sensei was before him. Was he even concerned about this test? Or maybe he already quit? No. there had to be something.

"Um, Naruto? You do realize the test has already begun, don't you?" Kakashi asked the blond with calm and warm voice. He heard from Iruka and Third that Naruto was usually hyperactive, loud, obnoxious, ramen-obsessed, trouble making knucklehead. But the kid in front of him was different. Calm. Quiet. Unconcerned. Almost isolated. Naruto just looked at the jonin.

"Yeah, I know." He said quietly.

"Well then, what's wrong? Are you quitting already?"

"It's not that" he looked down and continued. "But I don't know why to even bother." Kakashi opened his eye as wide as possible. Was Naruto lost? Or maybe he figured something out about this test?

"C'mon Naruto! You can at least try. Don't worry." Naruto faced his sensei again.

"Then mind explaining somethin' about this test?" Kakashi's eye widen again. "I have a feeling something's not right about this test. From what I heard, all teams are four men formations. And here you say you'll fail one of us and have a three men team. Something's not right about that."

Kakashi looked stupefied. The kid couldn't tell it and yet he knew the jonin was up to something. What perception. Sensei eye-smiled at the blond. He was beginning to like him.

"Tell you what, Naruto." Kakashi started, getting the blonde's attention, "I'll tell you everything and even teach you a new jutsu if you can get at least one of the bells from me. Deal?" The jonin saw some live returning to the kid's eyes. Soon he stood up to his feet and took his stance.

"Yeah, okay." He said. It wasn't much of an enthusiasm, but there was some tone of happiness in his voice.

Naruto lunched at Kakashi with full force. He was delivering punches and kicks trying to hit him. The jonin was dodging them however, but he had to admit he was impressed. Naruto's speeds, his agility, were beyond what anyone should be able to do even after years of extreme training regime. It was inhuman. He couldn't take this one so lightly. Even if he was not much of a danger though, Kakashi had to take him with a bit of seriousness.

Sakura and Sasuke, who were still hidden in their spots, were amazed watching the blonde's fight. They could barely follow his movement at all even when they focused hard on his limbs. Sasuke just hnn-ed under his nose, stating that Naruto had just speed, but no accuracy or strength. Sakura on the other was surprised. She even, for a second, thought that he was quite cool.

After a minute of fighting, Kakashi disappeared, from what any one would say. But Naruto saw most of the part. From his point of view, Kakashi move in the blur to the left. He was so fast, that the blond could follow that blur only for a second. It was too fast. Even so he could tell that his sensei could still go faster if he wanted. Naruto turn around and in the corner of his eye he found him.

Kakashi crouched behind the blond. His hands together with only his middle and index fingers straight for a 'tiger' seal. "Get out of there, Naruto! He's going to destroy you!' shouted mentally Sasuke. He thought that the jonin is going to use a fire jutsu.

"Well that was a good spar." Kakashi said and continued, aiming his fingers for Naruto, "But I have to get to the others. So here's the last thing before we depart. Konoha Ultimate Taijutsu: Hidden Art: 1000 years of Pain!" Kakashi then inserted his fingers into Naruto's anus. The blond grimaced for a second and then was send into the air crying like a mad man. That was a low blow. He was about to land head first a few feet away from his sensei. But before he made contact with the ground… puff. That was a shadow clone. Kakashi was actually surprised.

The real Naruto was hiding in the river. He was watching the entire fight from the beginning. Now, since he knew the difference between him and his sensei, he knew he had to come up with a plan. Kakashi jumped into the trees. Naruto was about to go into the woods as well.

Then he saw the jonin lost both bells. He got out of the water and walked over to them. He stopped. Naruto looked at the bells before reached for them to know how Kakashi lost them. He saw the string was apparently weak and broke. He looked around for any sign of his sensei. He found no one. The blond finally decided to take the bells… and then the trap was triggered.

Naruto was hanging upside down about two feet above ground. What the hell? When did this…? That's when Kakashi appeared in front of him. Eye smiling like crazy.

"Since you're a prankster, I thought you may like one of my own." He said picking up the bells. "Remember Naruto. A ninja must always look underneath the underneath. Deception is our greatest weapon. If you see your price lying around so freely, don't take it. Because it's obviously a trap." When he finished his lecture, he heard a sound of incoming shurikens. Kakashi quickly jumped away, pulling his kunai out and deflecting what he couldn't dodge.

Then he heard metal shredding flesh. He turned around and saw Naruto got hit with a shuriken. In the head. Kakashi freaked out. '_No! Naruto don't die! Dammit! This was not supposed to happen!_' Just as he was about to see to the hanging student and call off the test, Naruto dispersed into a cloud of smoke. '_A shadow clone. Phew. Lucky coincidence. Now I got to scold someone about being reckless about their teammates._' Kakashi thought and looked towards where Sasuke was hiding.

'Damn. I gave out my position.' The Uchiha cursed. He was sure Naruto would provide a perfect distraction. Now he was running. Trying to get retreat and come up with a new plan of attack. Then Kakashi appeared before him via Shunshin. Then he chopped him in the neck. Or at least he thought so until he noticed he hit the log. Sasuke used Substitution in the last moment.

* * *

Sakura was running through the woods looking for Sasuke. But she couldn't find him anywhere. Could Kakashi-sensei have gotten him? No way. There's no way he would do something like that to HER Sasuke. But still, she would find her idol and assist him any way possible.

The pink haired kunoichi saw a clearing. Staying still hidden came closer and saw the scarecrow-like jonin. He was just standing. Maybe he was planning something. Whatever, she had to find Sasuke now so he could pass.

"His just standing there? Strange, isn't it?" a voice behind her whispered.

"Yeah. For a sensei, this guy is a freak." She answered. Also whispering. But then she registered that someone was actually behind her. She turned around and noticed it was Kakashi, who was looking over her shoulder at the figure in the small field. The pink haired turned around and only now did she notice that was an actual scarecrow over there. That's when she screeched out in panic. The birds were flying away in a rush. Finally, Kakashi knocked her down. She was lying unconscious.

The jonin jumped into the trees and started to search for the other two genins. There were still two hours left.

* * *

Sasuke was sitting in the trees thinking how to get the bells for Kakashi. The first try didn't go as planned. He underestimated the jonin. He was better then the last Uchiha thought. A frontal attack like Naruto's was out of question. He had to take him by surprise. But just as Sasuke was about to move, Naruto landed on the branch on the other side of the tree.

"Hey, Sasuke." Naruto started. Sasuke just looked at him. "Listen. Our sensei. There's no way we can take him on. He's too above us." The Uchiha began to glare at him. "Plus, there's something fishy about this test. It…" He was cut off by Sasuke.

"Idiot." Sasuke said in a harsh tone, "That test is just to separate the weakest link of the group. That's the whole point of this test. And believe me… I'm not the one going back to the academy!"

Naruto was thinking for a second. What Sasuke said could be true. But then again, there were still too many things that didn't fit in. "So how about we do this together?" he suggested.

"You'll just get in my way, Dead-last. I'm above what you can offer." Sasuke said arrogantly. And before the blond could say anything, he was hit. Once the knucklehead put him self together, he saw the Uchiha jump away. The blond looked down. He was sad. Again rejected any help or company. Then he stood up and jumped off into another direction.

* * *

Naruto arrived just in time to see Sakura waking up. He carefully and slowly approached her. He wasn't certain towards her reaction. She could accept her offer to cooperate in retrieving the bells, but then again, she was so hostile towards him. She was after all the most aggressive of all the girls in the class. He came closer to her. He pulled out his hand. He wanted to help her get on her feet.

To his surprise she accepted it.

She was now standing. Soon she turned away from the blond to walk away.

"Hey, Sakura! Wait!" Naruto called to her. "I was thinking maybe should together to get the bells." Sakura stopped.

"Good idea!" she said happily, "I'll go find Sasuke so the two of us can work together! Boy, I'm a genius!" Naruto sweat dropped.

"But… Sakura. I all ready tried with Sasuke and he refused."

"That's because you would only get in the way, moron!" the kunoichi said angrily to Naruto. She soon dashed off to find the Uchiha boy, leaving the prankster behind.

Naruto couldn't believe this. He was left behind like some dirt. Now he was depressed. He wanted to quit now. This was pointless. No one accepted him.

* * *

Eighty three minutes left. Kakashi was watching Naruto walking by the river. He didn't like the expression the genin had. Not one bit. He also had enough of it. He intended to find out what was wrong with the kid. So he jumped out and landed before Naruto taking a pose that would mock any one to attack him. Kakashi gave the boy an opening. A simple plan really. Let Naruto attack. Try to get in to conversation with him. Learn what's bothering the blond and help him.

But his plan failed.

Naruto just walked pass him.

What the f**k? The one-eyed ninja gave a perfect chance for the blonde and he just ignored him? Something stinks here.

Then he was caught.

Kakashi looked around and found himself restrained in a nelson by the second Naruto. A shadow clone. So the blond was prepared. He turned to the free prankster, most likely the original, and he didn't like the look of what he saw.

Naruto was smiling as he created five more shadow clones. They all charged at the scarecrow-man. They were about to punch him. This was perfect. Kakashi never suspected him to have a clone set for this situation. Now he just needed to make sure he could claim the bells. The blond stroked.

To his surprise he hit Naruto. What the? What happened? Wasn't he the one with the advantage? Little did he know that Kakashi actually substituted himself with one of his clones actually. That's because all the Narutos were about to fight one another. They began. After a few seconds however they stopped. The original having just a few scratches, which were healing fast.

Kakashi jumped out of his hiding and stood calmly on the other side of the river.

"I have to admit I'm quite disappointed in your last performance, Naruto." he said reaching for his pouch. Naruto took his stance ready for whatever attack might come. He was sweating. What is his sensei planning? Was he going to use some shuriken jutsu? Maybe he's planning on using some exploding tags. What his sensei was about to pull out had to mean his taking him serious.

And so Kakashi pulled out some orange book. Naruto was confused. '_What is this?_' the blond asked himself mentally. He took a closer look and was shocked. He recognized the book. "What the hell?" he screamed. "Don't tell me you're reading this kind of stuff!"

Kakashi, who was already reading the book, looked at Naruto with a bit of surprise. "You mean to tell me you know this book?"

"It's not like I know what the book is about. But I sure know WHAT KIND of a book it is."

"How?" the jonin asked curious.

"You'd be surprised to learn things while trying to avoid some potential mobs. Besides, a cousin of my friend is a fan of that book." Naruto was now furious. His sensei was the same as Anko's cousin. So he couldn't be taking him seriously at all. Kakashi was making fun of him right from the beginning? How dare he? The blond, in his rage, grabbed a big log that was lying next to him. Kakashi was truly shocked to see the genin wasn't struggling that much. But then he saw Naruto throw the log at him with ease, as if he threw a spear. The one-eye actually dropped his book because of the shock.

Kakashi barely managed to dodge the projectile. He watched as some of his hair fell off his head. That was ridiculous. How could a twelve-soon-to-be-thirteen year old be so strong. Was it the Fox. Once he straightened himself, he looked towards the blond knucklehead. Now he was confused. Naruto was trembling as he watched his shaking hands. Then he looked at the jonin. Fear was clearly visible in the boy's eyes. He took a step back. He looked like he was about to break into a trauma.

"I… I… I am… I'M SORRY!" Naruto cried as he turned and jumped away. He was now so afraid. Kakashi however was concerned. He, unluckily as it seems, got his answers. '_So that's it'_ he thought. '_The boy is still in trauma after hearing about the Nine-tails. The poor guy is confused now and thinks he is the Fox._' The jonin kneeled to pick up his book. Then he returned to his thoughts. '_By the first time I get, I'd better have a talk with him about it. He's suffering enough already by having that thing SEALED inside him._' Kakashi turned around to the trees and formed a 'ram' seal.

* * *

Sakura was still looking for Sasuke. Where is he? Why couldn't she be with him for at least a moment? No. Concentrate. There were still 30 minutes left of the test. She had to get the bells so she and Sasuke could pass. She could do this. She knew she could. She just had to find Sasuke, convince him to team up and come up with a good plan. Or maybe she should have find Naruto. Yeah. He could be good for a distraction.

Then she felt the wind blow around her. But she was in the forest. Trees everywhere. Why was the wind this strong. Then the leaves flew around her in a circle. What's happening? Why was she feeling so lightheaded? When the leaves and the wind disappeared, she heard some sound. She turned to the left and there she saw a small clearing. But she saw there terrified her. The pink haired kunoichi saw Sasuke stabbed with multiple spears, shurikens and kunai knives. He was pale. The idol turned to her weakly.

"S… Sa… Sakura… Help…m…meee…" Sasuke said. Sakura however screamed in horror and fainted.

Kakashi walked over to the girl at looked at her with a disappointed look. '_Honestly._' He thought. '_Considering your marks in genjutsu, I thought you'd do better than fall for such a weak jutsu._' He stood up, pulled out his orange book and walked away. When the jonin was a few feet further away from the kunoichi…

A rain of shurikens fell upon Kakashi. He dodged it jumping to the left. He looked down and saw some explosives. BANG. There was an explosion. The scarecrow landed far from it, untouched. He looked to his blind spot. Sasuke was dashing towards him. Kakashi blocked his incoming fist. The brunette tried to kick. Blocked again. Then how about a high heel. The jonin blocked again. Wait! Sasuke was reaching for the bells with his free hand. He could touch them. But the one-eyed jonin was faster. He threw the Uchiha away. The kid landed on his all fours. Then reached for a kunai and threw it. Kakashi was confused for a moment about why Sasuke didn't throw it at him. But once he saw the projectile cut the robe under the tree he understood. A log covered in kunai and shuriken blades swung down. On him. The jonin jumped away from its reach. He looked at the brunette.

"I gotta admit." he started, "you're different from the others. But this is as far as it goes. Just give up."

"I'm way better the other two." Sasuke said to him both arrogantly and confident. Then he began doing a series of hand seals stopping on 'tiger'. Kakashi was surprised.

'_What the…? Genins can't do fire jutsus. They consume too much chakra._' Scarecrow-man thought. Sasuke on the other hand took a deep breath.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke blew at the jonin a big fireball. The fire was incoming and the older ninja didn't move.

Contact.

Sasuke stopped the jutsu and looked at his doing proudly. He hit the target. The fire started to die out.

There was a burnt log.

'Dammit! Where did he go?' Sasuke cursed mentally taking his stance. He looked around. Left. Right. Behind. Above. He couldn't find him anywhere. Where did the jonin go?

Then he felt something. Sasuke looked down and notice a pair of hands holding his ankles. The Uchiha was pulled down and borrowed to the neck in the ground. Kakashi came out from the underground before him.

"Earth Style: Inner Decapitation Jutsu_._" He said. Sasuke was glaring at him and tried to get out of the trap. However it was fruitless. Kakashi continued. "You actually did surprise me with that last jutsu. Unfortunately you're overlooking the gap in abilities and experience between us." The silver haired man gave the boy an eye-smile, returned to his favorite book and shunshined.

Sakura just woke up. She was feeling a little dizzy still. Was that a genjutsu? She felt terrible. She went into clearing to get some more space. Boy she felt bad. And ashamed to fall for a basic genjutsu.

Then something caught her attention. It was Sasuke's head on the ground. The head turn to see Sakura, who was stunned. "Sakura?" Sasuke asked confused. But Sakura could only scream.

Few minutes later, Sasuke was finally free from his imprisonment. He started to walk away, thinking of a new strategy. Sakura however began to doubt they could do it.

"Hey. Sasuke." She started, getting the boy's full attention, "How about we quit? We can try again next year. I'm sure we'll do better by then?"

"I can't" came the answer. Sakura was confused. "I am the avenger. I need to get stronger. If I quit now… I will never get to kill him. So I must get stronger by whatever means necessary." He walked. He wanted to find the jonin and get the bells. The girl followed him. She would help him if necessary.

* * *

One of the posts on the field where the test started served as a chair for the one-eyed jonin. Kakashi was enjoying his book. The test would end soon. He was actually disappointed no one tried to take him on now. None of them was even close to getting the bell and now they should be really giving him a hard time.

Then he jumped up. His instincts kicked in just in time before the shurikens hit him. He looked around and found Naruto dashing at him. He looked horrible. As if forcing himself to overcome his trauma and pass the test. He made a 'cross' hand seal and created three shadow clones. Kakashi was expecting another hand-to-hand combat. One of the blonds delivered a kick to the jonin. The scarecrow ninja managed to block the attack, but still was pushed away. His arms hurt. Damn. The kid had some serious strength. Kakashi took a turned his attention back to him just in time to notice the fox-container's clones perform another set of hand seals. What was he planning? A 'ram' seal followed by a 'snake'. Then what Kakashi saw stupefied him. The blonds were holding what looked like a kunai made of pure lightening. Narutos swung it towards the one-eyed ninja and their "weapons" acted like a whip while extending.

"Stunning Light Whip!" the blonds shouted. When the jutsu was about to catch the silver haired guy, he just jumped up. He could feel his left foot numb a bit when the whip passed under it. Kakashi quickly understood the purpose of this jutsu. Paralyze. The kid wanted to restrain him and take the bells. Now he really had to hide his book back in the pouch.

"You should just do people a favor and burn that excuse of a book, you pervert!" Naruto said loudly.

Kakashi was about to act. He had to respond to the attack. That kid was to dangerous to be taken like any other genin.

Just then he was caught with Naruto's jutsu. He could feel the charge running through his body. It was painful and he couldn't move. The whips finally let go. Kakashi could only watch. There were five Narutos who caught him from behind. Each standing in a different spot to catch the jonin from whatever ankle. An attack that just couldn't miss.

Naruto, the one from the beginning, landed before Kakashi and took the bells quickly, checked them and threw them to on of the five. He caught them and jumped into the woods. The clones dispersed five seconds later.

Kakashi fell the effects of the jutsu dropping and slowly stood up. He looked in a direction the blond took off and slightly smiled. '_Nice one. Now let's see how he handles it._' He thought.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura were getting close to the starting spot. Then they stopped. They saw Naruto land a few feet away from them holding the bells. He was smiling like a madman. Sasuke just widened his eyes while the girl was shocked.

"Naruto? You actually managed to get the bells?" she asked then she saw he was panting.

"Yeah." He answered. "I did use up my chakra a bit to make sure the jutsu worked, but I succeeded." He raised the bells higher so everyone could see them. "So… now how do we settle who gets the…" he was cut off with the strike in the neck. Sasuke, who sneaked up on the blond, knew he was more enduring to damage. He felt it while hitting the loudmouth before. So this time he used the kunai', ring side.

Once Naruto felt unconscious, the Uchiha kid took the bells from his hand. Sakura however was shocked.

"Sa… Sasuke? What are you doing?" She asked.

"I am not going to fail this test. I'll be the one to pass." He stated. He took one bell for himself and offered the other to Sakura. "You're joining? Of the two of you, I'm not staying with the idiot."

Sakura's eyes widened. Sasuke preferred her company from Naruto's. Come to thing of it, Naruto did graduate as the dead-last. So it was only natural he would choose the better one of the two.

She accepted the bell.

* * *

Few minutes later, Kakashi, who was sitting on the post, saw his genins, dragging unconscious blond-head. Kakashi then saw the other two raise the bells. Both were smiling.

Few minutes passed. Darkness was all he could see. Then some light appeared. His eyes were opening. Consciousness returning. Pain ran through Naruto's head. What happened? He tried to reach his head, but found that he couldn't move. He looked down and saw he was tied to a pole. With a chain.

"What the hell?" Naruto freaked out. "Why am I tied to the pole? I did get the bell!"

Sasuke just looked at him showing the bell in his hand. "Like you would do any good in the team, idiot. You're not ready for this." Naruto looked down. Saddened. The silver haired jonin noticed it.

"Well that's true" Kakashi started. "Naruto will return to the academy. But the two of you should quit being ninja right away!" his voice was harsh. Sasuke and Sakura of course stiffened at this. "You two are a disgrace to all shinobi in the world."

"But, sensei, we got the bells." The girl showed "her" bell. She was about to cry.

"Indeed. But you didn't earn them."

"What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?" Now all three genins were confused.

"You have all failed to learn the purpose of this test. It was teamwork." Everyone widened their eyes to hear that. "You're all fresh from the academy. So there's no way you would be able to defeat a jonin. That's why you're set in a team of four including a sensei. You three were supposed to work together. Overcome your differences to complete your objective." Kakashi then turned to Naruto.

"Naruto was actually the closest to uncovering that." the two genins then looked at Naruto surprised. The blond was, in full honesty, surprised himself. "Wait. I misspoke myself. Even though he didn't realize it, he KNEW the answer."

"Don't mess with me!" Sasuke yelled angrily. "There no way he could come up with something like that!" the Uchiha charge at the jonin. He couldn't take the news of the dead-last being better then him in something. He pulled out his kunai. He was going to stab him. But then, in a blink of the eye, the brunette was lying on the ground face to dirt. Kakashi was sitting on him, kunai to his throat.

"Hey!" Sakura screeched, "You can't do that to Sasuke!"

"SHUT UP!" Kakashi commanded in a threatening tone. "None of you disserves any respect for what you are. You're all nothing but brats, who haven't grown up yet to be ninja."

"Bu…but sensei! You said Naruto found out the hidden meaning to your test. Yet he got the bells himself." Sakura pointed out hesitantly. Kakashi gave her his famous, bored look.

"Good point. However you're forgetting something. You each have your strengths, but you also have your weaknesses which can be filled by your team mates." He turned his gaze to Sasuke.

"Sasuke," he started, "you see yourself above others so badly, that you believe them to get in your way." He then turned his gaze to the girl. "Sakura. You were all Sasuke, while Naruto was closer to you." Then turned to Naruto who looked badly depressed. So Kakashi slightly softened his tone. "Naruto." He got the blonde's attention, "You believed others to be so hostile you preferred to do things alone. Yet… you were, even if one time only, ready to get team up with the others."

"Wait a minute here, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cut in. "How is team work supposed to help here? There are two bells and the three of us. One of us would still fail."

"Like I said before, this test was supposed to show if you could put aside your differences. The bells were nothing but a distraction." All three genins' jaws dropped. They were fooled. "In the shinobi world, teamwork is more important then the objective itself. If you're willing to abandon your comrades, you're not worthy of being ninja. "

Then everyone heard Naruto's stomach growl. Kakashi eye-smiled and got off Sasuke. I'll give you all time to eat. We'll try again later. But don't feed Naruto." He gave the two, free genins two bento and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

A minute past. Sasuke and Sakura were eating. They heard Naruto's stomach growl again. The sound was so loud.

Sasuke reached his bento to, now surprised, Naruto. "Here. Have some." The blond just scoffed.

"Save me your pity." he said.

"It's not pity. We're goin' to need every bit of strength we have and I'm not having you slow down." The Uchiha answered. The pink haired kunoichi looked at her bento and decided to follow.

"My hands are tied you know."

"Then I'll feed you." Sakura decided, surprising the knuckleheaded genin. Then she added harshly "But don't you dare tell anyone what I did!"

She was about to feed Naruto, when the sky became dark. Thunders were roaring in the sky. Kakashi appeared before them surrounded by fire. He was mad at them.

"YOU!" he started. "How dare you disobey my direct order? Now you will all pay!"

The genins were frightened. They felt like running. But then…

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Naruto began. "You said we're a supposed to be team!"

"That's right!" Sakura continued. "That means we can't leave each other out! One succeeds, we all succeed! One suffers, we all suffer!"

"So if you want to punish one of us, you'll have to punish every one of us!" Sasuke added taking his stance.

"Is that your answer?" Kakashi asked. The genins were nervous. What was their sensei going to do? He could see their fear. But also noticed they were ready to take his wrath. They would not LEAVE each other.

The atmosphere suddenly got lighter. Kakashi was giving them a big eye-smile. "You pass!" he said. The genins were stupefied. "You're the first genin team to actually pass my test. The others were just blindly following my orders. In the shinobi world, those who break the rules are nothing but trash. But those who abandon their friends and comrades are even worse than trash." He said while looking into the sky. Then looked back to his genins. "Congratulations. You are now officially Team 7." They were happy. They actually passed. That was great.

Two minutes later, after learning where and when to meet up with their sensei, Sasuke and Sakura went off. On their way, the girl asked the Uchiha out, but was rejected.

Kakashi walked up to Naruto and released him. He gestured the boy to sit for a moment. He needed to help the blond with one more thing.

"Listen, Naruto. I know everything about the Mizuki encounter." Naruto actually got scared. If Kakashi knew about Mizuki encounter, he could be one of those people. Was sensei going to kill him? Now? What was he planning to do with him? "Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you." the silver haired man said calmly. The boy felt a little calmer. "Listen, Naruto. I can see you're confused about something. You do know about the Nine-tails as I recall." The blond nodded.

"It's in me" he said quietly.

"That's true." Kakashi answered. "But you are NOT the Nine-tails." Naruto looked at him surprised. "Naruto. There is a difference between a cage and the caged. You are definitely the cage." Naruto felt a bit confused. After all, he had inhuman body. He healed fast. So how could he… "It's true you're different from others in more ways then normally, but that doesn't change you're human. Only a human would have the sense to protect someone else. You did protect Iruka. Therefore, you are human."

Naruto felt tears fall down his cheeks. All of the sudden, he jumped at the jonin and hugged him. The kid was crying. He was actually happy. Someone not only acknowledged him, but also explained his actually not the demon. Sure, he remembered what Iruka said, but apparently he needed someone else's opinion.

And Kakashi happened to be the best. The one-eyed man returned the hug. After a few minutes, Naruto thanked Kakashi for the therapy and brushed of his usual, hyperactive way. But before he was gone too far…

"Hey Naruto! Wait!" Kakashi stopped him. "Something still troubles me. Before we begun the test, only you didn't seem hungry, so I stated you ate breakfast. You knew that skipping breakfast was my strategy, didn't you?"

Naruto just gave him a sheepish smile while scratching the back of his head. "Actually, I forgot you told us not to eat any."

The jonin fell, watching his student go off. How could he let himself get tricked by a knucklehead like him?

_Chapter end

* * *

_

_Omake_

It was two days after Team 7 passed the test. The jonins were having a meeting in a bar about their teams. Kakashi was sitting with a guy with dark, bit spiky hair, a beard and a cigarette in his mouth and a woman dressed in robes. She had strange blood red eyes, and long, dark grey, messy hair.

The three were talking about their teams. How they work, trained, what were their weaknesses etc. Then a man wearing green spandex uniform, a jonin vest, orange striped leg warmers and a forehead protector on his waist came over to them. The man had black, bowl haircut, wide nose and thick eyebrows.

"Ah, Kakashi! My eternal rival!" he called to the said man, "I have heard about you having a team!" the man took a 'nice guy' pose and there were sparkles all around him. "Finally, Kakashi! Now we can truly begin the competition to see which of our teams is more youthful! Kakashi, if I can not train my team better then yours, I will run around the Fire Country 1000 laps while carrying my team on my back!" He stated while tears were floating from his eyes. Then…

"Hmm? Did you say something?" was all Kakashi said.

The spandex wearing man was stupefied. His 'rival' ignored him. "Kakashi! Damn you! Do you always have to be so cool? It's working on my nerves so badly it is becoming unyouthful!" Then he felt someone's hand land on his shoulder. The man turned around and got frightened. It was Nekokage Kuromaru, Team 12 and the man whom even the Hokage himself feared.

"Guy? Were you talking something about 'youth' again?" the big man asked, giving a sick grin. The man known as Guy, Might Guy more precisely, paled a bit.

"Umm, no… No, I didn't say anything important today. Bye" he dashed out of the bar. Every one inside eye-followed him. Then they turned their gazes to Kuromaru, who was confused.

"What?"

_Omake end

* * *

_

**A/N. Well, that's it for now. Another chapter coming in due time.**

Kuromaru: Please review. Or I will torture you!

Me: Now now, Kuromaru-san. Please behave. No threatening the readers.

Kuromaru: You're no fun.


	5. Chapter 4 Wave mission part 1

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto! Naruto is Masashi Kishimoto's and ****that's final****! **

"Naruto"- normal speech

'_Naruto_'- thought

Naruto- jutsu name

* * *

_Charter 4_

_Wave mission- part 1- pre-journey day_

"This is 'Strong'! I'm at position! Over!"

"Roger that! What's your status? Over!"

"Target in sight! Repeat! Target in sight! Permission to intercept! Over!"

"Negative! Wait for backup! Repeat! Wait for backup! Over!"

The order has been ignored. The blond jumped out from the building corner and rushed into the alley. The noises indicated a rough fight. The rest of the group arrived to assist. What they saw wasn't quite satisfying.

"I've got the cat, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said proudly, holding a brown cat. Jonin sensei just sighed.

"Can you confirm the cat's ID?" he asked. The knucklehead took a closer look at the cat.

"A red ribbon on the right ear. Yep. That's definitely the right fur ball." The kid claimed. Then the cat started to scratch his face. He however was holding the feline hard. He wasn't just about to let go. The rest of the team was chuckling.

* * *

**30 minutes later. Hokage Tower.**

The team couldn't help but sweat drop as a big woman, who happened to be daimio's wife, was squeezing life out of the poor little kitty. She was faithful for its retrieval, but the cat didn't seem the have the same opinion as it was probably dying. The woman finally left the office.

The Hokage turned his full attention to Team 7. He raised his eyebrow when he saw the blond having his face in bandages. The kid was irritated however.

"Okay, Kakashi, I don't think we have any more missions for you as of today. You and your team are free to go." the wrinkle man known as the Third Hokage told them. Team 7 just bowed and left the room.

The three genins and their jonin-sensei where about to leave the tower, when Naruto spoke up.

"Hey! Anyone up for some ramen?" he asked happily.

"Forget it, idiot." was Sasuke's reply. Sakura nodded in her response. "Why should we waist our time for something like that? Besides, we're most likely going to train some more in a second, right Kakashi?" He continued in his arrogant tone.

Kakashi looked at him. Why was he stuck with the Uchiha again? Why didn't he fail the team when he should?

_Flashback_

_Kakashi stood in the Hokage's office. Before him sat the Hokage himself with two elderly people. The Elders. If they were here, then it had to be something important._

_One of the elders was a woman. She was short, wore a simple long kimono, and an obi jacket over it. She also had needles in her hair and earrings which were long and had barely open eyes. Her name was Koharu from what Kakashi could remember._

_The other elder, Homura the name, was a tall man with beard, glasses and robes similar to those of the hokage, except for a poncho-like top. He looked as if he was always displeased with something._

_The Third had finally decided to speak. "Kakashi. As you know, we assigned Uchiha Sasuke into your team."_

"_Yes, I remember" the young jonin said. "Tomorrow I'm giving his team a test to see if they can work together."_

_Koharu began to speak before the village leader had the chance to. "As you know, this is THE LAST of the Uchiha. We have great hopes for this boy."_

"_So we and the council wish for you to pass them." Homura finished for her._

_Kakashi didn't accept the news in a good way. How dare they play favorites?_

"_With all due respects, oh Honorable Elders, but this isn't fair in the system." The one-eyed man stated. "Why should I let him pass if he doesn't come up to my expectations? Besides, the other two also…"_

"_Kakashi!" Koharu interrupted him. "This is the council's decision. We know of the other two, especially the Uzumaki kid. Now if we could, we would have them removed immediately. However, this was decided too late so we have little to no choice but to request you to have the Uchiha pass no matter what."_

"_If this is so important, then why me?"_

_Homura answered him that question. "That's because you're the best jonin in the village. So you'll be excellent. Beside that, you are the only one who can train the young Uchiha in his heritage."_

_Kakashi frowned a little. The council was disgusting him. First they were allowing Naruto to suffer by the hands of the villagers and limited Hokage's actions in the matter. And now they were playing favorites because of another child just because he was the Uchiha, the most prestigious clan there was in Konoha. That wasn't right. But the jonin knew this is a debate he can't win._

"_I'll do what can be done." He answered them and continued before they could complain it wasn't enough. "But I'll have to be very discrete. I must also know for myself how good he is and where is he lacking."_

_The elders were smiling. Kakashi was cooperating. Hiruzen however was sad. He was hoping for the young scarecrow-man to be more rebellious about the matter._

_The elders soon left, after they discussed a few more details. But before Kakashi could leave, Third told him to stay. Then he activated some safety seals to have more privacy._

"_Kakashi!" the old man started, looking serious. "Ignore the council whatever way you can. But still, there is something important I must ask of you."_

_End flashback_

The leader of Team 7 mentally cursed for having Sasuke. He was slowly becoming more tolerant towards his teammates, but was still so arrogant. That kid was seeing himself as a king. But his attitude towards Naruto was at least better than the pink head's. Sakura was treating him like dirt whenever he took the spotlight, stating he was embarrassing the Uchiha or just showing off. There were rarely any moments when she would truly praise him.

But Kakashi came to like his team either way. After their little talk, Naruto became cheerful again. The good old prankster brought good mood into the group. The jonin actually liked the kid. Sure, he was cocky, stubborn, dimwitted, impatient, even stupid and careless, but had good heart, worked hard and always helped whatever way he could. How happy ninja of the Hatake was to actually have him on his team.

"Actually, we could take a break before we go training." Kakashi said to the three. At the sound of that, Naruto was dancing his victory dance. The jonin-sensei smiled under his mask.

* * *

**Evening, Konoha streets**

Naruto was exhausted with today's training. All he wanted now was to take a hot bath and eat until he could eat no more. Now he was on his way to his apartment, hoping for not running into Anko. That girl would surely kill him if they were to spar today. Naruto decided to go through the alley when he noticed a crowd nearby. So he turned left. He was however surprised when a chunin, whom the blond didn't recognized, appeared in front of him. Naruto was a bit confused about it.

"Umm… Can I help with somethin'?" the prankster asked. That's when he noticed the guy in front of him smiled sinisterly. Suddenly the kid felt he was stabbed in the shoulder from behind and his mouth shut by someone's hand.

"Actually yes. You can." the person behind him said. Then Naruto fell and he was stabbed again. Then again. And again and again. He didn't feel good. Why was his body this weak all of the sudden? Were their weapons poisoned? One of the attackers was about to stab the fox container in his head. This was it.

Then the konoha-nin was stabbed from behind. The guy looked down and saw a shadow, which began to take shape and retreat, revealing a katana. This didn't look good. The stabbed man turned around his head and noticed someone literally diving out from his shadow. He started to panic. He recognized the guy on the spot.

"Lo… Lord Niigetsu? Wha…?" Before he could say anything, the Niigetsu clan-member removed the blade and, without stopping, cut off the man's head. Anger was clear on his face. The other attacker, the one who stabbed Naruto from behind, ran off, hoping to escape, when he fell he ran into someone. To his horror, it was Nekokage Kuromaru.

"Hey! Shadow Master of the Leaf! What's goin' on 'ere?" the giant asked. Soon he got the answer.

"These two simpletons dared to attack the young Uzumaki and attempted to kill him, Nekokage-dono."

"Is? THAT? SO?" Kuromaru became even more than furious. The chunin before him wet his pants in fear. The jonin was not the easy one to insult. However, once he already lost it, there would be no torture by his hand.

Only a brutal, near inhuman execution.

The jonin-sensei of Team 12 caught the poor victim's head in his grip, lifted. The last of the kid's attackers tried to get free, but it was futile. Soon there was a sick sound of bones cracking. The chunin's hands fell down. Some would say his given up. But soon there was blood running from his nose, eyes and mouth. The guy was still breathing, but he was now a mere vegetable. Kuromaru usually calls it 'The Execution of Thousand Lifetimes". He soon dropped the 'executed'.

* * *

**Late at night**

Naruto was finally waking up. He groaned at first, but then he slowly opened his eyes. The kid blinked a few times to get used to the light and get the image right. Soon, he started to look around. He was in the hospital. Damn it. He hated hospitals. The doctors were always keeping him in bed. Most likely to bore him to death. Then, he noticed three people next to his bed. One of them was Kakashi, his sensei. He was seating on the edge of the window looking at the blond with worry. By the doors to the room was a big man, Kuromaru-sensei of Team 12. Now this guy had an expression. If you were to say he looked mad or furious, you would be more than badly mistaken.

Than the third man, who was dressed in a black kimono-like shirt, whore matching black pants and carried a sword by his waist, caught the lad's attention. Naruto knew the man very well. It was Niigetsu Yamamoto, the head of the Niigetsu clan and the only man, aside from the hokage, to look after the boy. Perhaps this man did even more for him than the village leader could. The forty years old man raised his head, showing Naruto his strong features, green eyes, and a small two goatees matching his short green hair. The guy smiled.

"Welcome to the world of the conscious, Naruto."

"Shadow-dude Yamamoto. Wha… Why am I here?"

"You were attacked. Again." Kuromaru answered growling.

"But no need to worry. The attackers have been taken care of." Niigetsu clan-head said. Hearing this made Kakashi feel a shiver down his spine. "They did try to poison you, but don't worry. We managed to counter it. Tomorrow you should be able to go on your missions." The hyperactive knucklehead couldn't help but smile when he heard it. His regenerative factor must have been a blessing. He was attacked today. He had multiple stab wounds. And tomorrow he'll be able to go out on a mission as if it never happened.

The Niigetsu clan yet again helped Naruto. They did try to adopt him in the past, but the council made sure the child would never be. However, Yamamoto and his clan still were watching over him. When the Elders tried to forbid it, they were just scowled by the Yamamoto, who in fact questioned their position due to their ignorance.

That was the greatest characteristic of the Niigetsu clan. Like Nara clan members showed high intellect and laziness, the Niigetsu clan showed wisdom and cockiness. They were the only clan to go as far as to argue with the council and not fear the consequences. Many have tried to occupy the clan members with missions or false situation just to get the fox container. But they would always fail.

Naruto turned to Kakashi, believing he would for some reason try to make him rest. He was relieved however when his sensei simply smiled. Tomorrow was going to be another busy day.

* * *

**The next day, early afternoon.**

Team 7 stood in the hokage's office. They were all, but the one-eyed jonin, annoyed, disappointed, dirty and smelly after their mission this morning. The cleaning of the toilets in the park. The worst thing was they all looked as if not cleaned since the founding of the village. And now, here, before the Hokage, the three were most likely ready to kill someone even for the slightest of insults.

"Team 7 has accomplished their mission, Lord Hokage. Operation "Clean John" successful." said the Team leader. However the genins weren't in a happy. This mission was the worst of all. Especially the codename. "Clean John"? Who the hell named the mission like that?

"All right then." Third spoke up pulling his pipe out of his mouth as he began to look through mission scrolls. "Now… I have other mission for you. Weeding the garden, walking dogs, catching Tora (AGAIN?), babysitting, deliveri…"

"NOOOO!" Naruto screamed hysterically in protest. "I don't wanna do any more of these darn chores! Give us a real mission, Old Man!"

Iruka, who was in the office as well for mission assignment, frowned at the knucklehead's antics. "Naruto. That's impossible. Your not just genin, but FRESH genin. This means you have to do D-rank assignments. Now if you were chunin you would have the right to ask for C-ranked. That's just how this system works. It's just to improve your teamwork that you're all givin' these D-rank missions."

As soon as Iruka finish his lecture, the blond preteen begun to argue. "I'm not asking for some super hyper ultra hard mission, but something really more challenging. How are we supposed to prove we're ready if we're doing nothing but house shores?"

"No, Naruto! We can't give you any higher missions 'til you're team is ready."

Then Naruto jumped onto the desk. He lied there, grabbed the hokage's robes, and with the begging look he started his little speech.

"Please, Old Man. I'm begging you. It can even be a low C-rank. Anything but another D-rank. Show some mercy."

The aged hokage looked up to see Kakashi's response. The jonin just nodded. Third chuckle a little at this. Who would have thought that the begging would make even the great Hatake go along?

"Oh all right all ready. You win" the village leader said. Naruto returned to his team. "I indeed have one low C-rank mission right here. It's been here for while now and I just couldn't find a suitable team to assign to. This mission goes by the codename 'Bridge delivery'". Everyone raised their eyebrows. What a corny codename. Then Kakashi was given a small scroll marked with a seal characteristic for C-ranks. "You can come in now!" Hokage said loudly, surely signaling for someone outside the room to enter.

And in came a man in his late fifties or early sixties with a beard and moustache. The man wore glasses, a straw hat, green, sleeveless shirt, gray pants and smelled like a drunk. Judging by his face expression and stance, he probably was freshly drunk. The man looked at the team before him.

"What's this? I asked for a team of ninja to escort me home and I get some brats. The stupid blond pipsqueak one seems to be the weakest of all."

Naruto froze for a second, making a dead face. He quite quickly caught who the guy was talking about. Then he jumped at him, wanting to kill him. It took everyone in the room, whole Team 7 minus Sakura, Iruka and the Hokage to hold the blond away from the client.

"Now now, Naruto! Calm down! No killing the employer! No killing the employer!" Kakashi tried to persuade the knucklehead to stop. Finally Naruto calmed down. But he still frowned and looked away from the man. The drunk on the other hand was impressed. It took three adults and one kid to restrain one blond. He may have been to rush to make judgment.

"Okay then." Sarutobi spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "Since we're all calm now… This is Tazuna, you're client." The aged shinobi leader politely pointed the drunk now known as Tazuna. "You're mission will be to escort him to his homeland, the Land of Waves and from there to the neighboring island."

"And who exactly is this run down anyway." asked Naruto, still mad at the comment of his short appearance.

"I'm a bridge builder, kid. The best there is." Tazuna answered with pride, only to find that Naruto was ignoring him in the same manner Kakashi ignores his team's comments (or a certain spandex wearing fellow comrade).

"What ever"

"Brat! You… Hey, Lord Hokage. You sure this team is up to the task?"

"Oh I assure you, Mr. Tazuna. I and my team are quite capable of more than that. And in case anything goes wrong, I am a jonin for a reason." Kakashi said. After a few more minutes, the silver-haired ninja told his genins to meet him at the north gate in the morning, ready for a week-worth trip. Naruto was now excited. His first REAL mission.

But the hokage and the jonin-sensei had a feeling there was something a miss.

* * *

A/N: Hope ya liked it. Tune in fore the next chapter of my fanfic.


	6. Chapter 5 Wave mission part 2

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto! Naruto is Masashi Kishimoto's and ****that's final****! **

"Naruto"- normal speech

'_Naruto_'- thought

Naruto- jutsu name

* * *

**_Charter 5_**

**_Wa__ve mission- part 2- Road of life_**

_The sky was all covered in heavy black clouds which could be mistaken for smoke coming rising from all over the landscape as far as the eye could see. Whatever of the sky could be seen through the clouds was as red as the blood running down the rivers and covering the stone, wood and the dead. Thunders where striking every 3-7 seconds, giving a better light to see the forest dead, the buildings destroyed and great piles- no, mountains- of corps everywhere.__ The picture was horrifying with all the fire every here and there. _

_The smell of blood and death was heavy in the air. Who ever could have survived was most likely suffocating now. The lungs burning as if melting. Walking would now be like carrying four people at once. The ground was soaked with water of the rain as well as blood. It was true mud._

_In all that chaos, there two mysterious figures facing one another on top of the highest structure in the ruins. It was however impossible to tell who they were, as shadows were covering them. But both seemed inhuman. Their very presence brought the sensation of death and burning. One of the figures could only be described as a winged man with a tail. They were covered obviously with feathers, but it was impossible to tell what color they were. And the wings seemed strange- like a crossover of raven wings with hands? A true abomination. Another characteristic features were the eyes. The eyes with red sclera, black iris and instead of pupil there were three, glowing red points rotating counter-clockwise around the center of the iris. But it's not just the color. These eyes were cold. They were so full of hatred they could kill more brutally than any blade of the world. The winged figure raised his left hand to the neck level. The hand was covered in black lightning._

"_This is the end for you." The figure spoke with an icy tone to the other one. Than there was a big flash…_

The silence of the night has been disturbed by a loud cry of terror. That scream was Naruto's when he finally awoke. He was all sweating and breathing heavily. This was a horrible nightmare. Or was it? The blond placed his hand on his shoulder and cough some blood. What was it? Was he sick? Maybe it was some sign something bad is going to happen? Naruto felt fear the more he wondered.

* * *

**Konoha North Gate, morning**

Team7 and their client were gathered by the gate as they were instructed to do. Only the team leader was missing. Sakura was wondering what lame excuse he was going to say this time. Then suddenly Kakashi appeared right before them wearing his usual outfit plus a backpack.

"Greetings, lad!" the jonin greeted them. Then he noticed his students staring at him.

"Who are and where is THE REAL Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. Her sensei barely smiled.

"Why it's really me. But if you insist… Sorry I'm early. Because of our client I had to pack myself before going to bed and I fell asleep before 10 o'clock." The silver-haired ninja said. The pink headed girl slapped her head in disbelieve. She was sorry for asking.

Kakashi took a quick look at Tazuna and then at the genin trio. Sakura kept slapping her head. Sasuke was brooding as always. And Naruto looked like he had a rough night. But he ignored it.

"Alright then, Team 7, we're moving out!" the scarecrow-man announced. Naruto suddenly started to act his usual self again and rushed forward. The kunoichi was furious with him obviously, but the jonin seemed entertained.

* * *

**The road, several hours later**

The weather was beautiful. The sun was shining on the clear blue sky illuminating the forest and the road Team 7 have taken. The birds' singing could be heard from afar as well as the slight, cooling breeze. Kakashi kept checking his team every few minutes from the rear. Sasuke was placed at the lead point, since he was the best of the genins, which made him ideal for taking the opponent from front. Naruto and Sakura were in the middle with Tazuna to assure his safety. Although, it was Naruto who had more work to do in Kakashi's opinion, since he had to protect the client AND Sakura, since she was the weakest in combat.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei?" the blond interrupted the silence, "Just how far is the Wave Country exactly?"

"About two days travel. Why?" one-eyed asked.

"Well… if it's so far, wouldn't it be better if the Bridge Drunk just hired ninja in his country?"

Sakura felt for the moment the need to hit the knucklehead, but than she realized the he was right… in a way. Why didn't Tazuna just hire the ninja in Wave instead of traveling to the foreign country? That's when she heard sensei's answer.

"That's because Wave has no hidden ninja village." The genins were confused a little. "You see, kids, each of the Elemental Nations, since their greater, have their own hidden ninja villages. However, the smaller nations don't have that kind of resources for every one of them to provide one, whether it's the budget, territory, people or any other. So those countries which can't afford to have them prefer to hire ninja from any other country."

"And do their kages agree to it?" the team kunoichi asked out of curiosity.

"It's not like its illegal, Sakura. And on the other note- the smaller nations don't have kages. It was declared between the nations that only the countries ruled by daimio can appoint kages. As of today, there are six daimios, but since the Iron Country is neutral and has no ninja village, there are five kages: Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, Tsuchikage and Kazekage. These titles are earned by the most worthy of nation's ninja. Both in power and wisdom." Kakashi explained. The pink-head however just became skeptical. How could their hokage, considering his age, be called powerful?

* * *

Several minutes have past since the conversation and still nothing. Naruto was joggling some stones he collected earlier to entertain himself. He and Kakashi had a little talk yesterday about his impatience. The silver-head man told the prankster to find some way to keep himself calm and collected whenever he was losing his patience. And now he was. His teammates of course were thankful for him being quiet, but this was still for some reason irritating.

Kakashi soon noticed a small puddle on the road. The team was just about to pass it by when everyone noticed something strange about the blonde's behavior. He suddenly stopped joggling, was all stiff and shivered. Tazuna became a bit concerned and visibly stressed. Sakura and Sasuke on the other hand were wondering what happened. But when they noticed Kakashi's look, they stated that the blond was being addressed by their sensei to stop. The scarecrow-man however was wondering however. He could tell from Naruto's body language, the boy was looking around, as if someone was blowing at the kid and he attempted to learn where it is blowing from. Kakashi just couldn't seize to be amazed by the blond.

Then the genin trio and the bridge builder heard a sound of metal. They all turned around and noticed to two strange men with horned helmets and big, clawed, metal gauntlet each attached one to another with a spiky chain. The chain was now wrapped around the one-eye jonin and…

SHRED!

Kakashi was cut into pieces. The two attackers turned to the group and charged.

"One down!" said one of them.

"Four to go!" the other finished.

The hostile duo was running towards Tazuna. Sakura, who like Naruto, was frozen at the sight of killed Kakashi, but has quickly shaken out of the shock and to the bridge builder to protect him. Meanwhile Naruto couldn't collect himself and was in the enemy's path. They were about to strike, when a kunai flew out of no where and pint their chain to a nearby tree, stopping them in their track. Sasuke landed on their gauntlets as soon as they were no longer able to move. But when the Uchiha was about to deliver the final blow, the chain detached and the duo separated. Sasuke landed away safely from them on all fours, but when he noticed one of the assassins charging towards him, he knew he wouldn't manage to avoid the attack or block it. But before the claws could come near enough to kill the victim, the hostile ninja was hit in a head with a stone. The man rubbed his head and felt the damage on his forehead protector. He turned around and saw Naruto ready to throw another stone.

"Pick somebody your own size?" Naruto yelled and prepared to throw the second stone, when he noticed the other assassin getting closer to Tazuna and Sakura. So the blond threw it into him.

"Meizu! Watch out!" He heard his partner's warning just in time. So he ducked, just barely. A second later he heard a sound of pierced wood. Both assassin's didn't mind it and ran for their targets. However, Meizu's partner now charged for Naruto. As soon as he was in range, Naruto froze. Fear took him over. The assassin hit. There was blood of course. The sound of metal piercing flesh scared away the birds nearby.

Meizu, the second of the assassins, was coming close to his targets. He was about to strike, when Sasuke kicked him in the side of his head sending him flying. But he collected himself, landed safely and charged again. The Uchiha took his stance and had his kunai ready to strike.

But when Meizu had Sasuke within his reach, he was suddenly knocked down. The genins and the bridge builder were confused at what happened, until…

"Yo! Sorry I'm late, but there was this magnificent and rare bird on the nearby tree and I really had to sketch its portrait. By the way… good work you two." Kakashi, alive and NOT wounded, answered sitting and the assassin. The trio of course was furious with him.

"What were you thinking, dammit?" Tazuna yelled "If you were alive, why didn't you attack them immediately?" Before he could hear the answer, team leader gave him a scary look of anger and irritation.

"Because I needed information. So first I played along with their little game. After all, why was there a puddle when there was no rain for about weeks? Second: Why would ninja assassins attack us, unless there was someone in our group they were targeting? So this means…" the jonin pointed at Tazuna "You were not honest with us while the mission interview. I demand to know the truth."

The bridge builder was now sweating. The trio before him was now suspicious. Tazuna felt he had no choice but to tell them.

"There is a reason for which I had to skip the details."

"The details? There were ninja after your life and you call this detail? What was the reason for this LIE? Are that cheap that you hire anyone who can pick up the sword?"

"Not exactly. Have you heard of Gato?"

"Gato? As in 'Gato Trade Co.'? I heard of it. Why?"

"His cruel man who controls Wave's trade routes. Because of him, not only can't we trade, but also we're starving. We gathered what money we could to hire a group of ninja…"

"Wait!" Sakura interrupted, "But we're just genins. You can't just expect us to kill someone like that."

"I was truly hoping to hear the opposite. But that's not what I hired you for. I just want you to protect me. You see I'm building a bridge from Wave to Fire Country, and Gato…"

"And Gato fears to loose his power because of it." Kakashi finished for him.

"Exactly. I'm expecting the bridge to be finished soon. However…"

"Yes?"

"The final shipment with building materials. I fear Gato might go for it at open sea to intercept it. If he gets me or the shipment- it's all over. Please, help us. I promise, we will pay what we own back, but we need your aid." Tazuna kneeled before the konoha-nins and begged. Wave must be truly desperate if Tazuna started to beg. Kakashi then pulled out a kunai and stabbed it into the assassin's body killing him.

"Guest we could do that. You people really need help and my team will so be mad at me for quitting their first C-rank. This reminds me…" Kakashi suddenly remember, oh the embarrassment, Naruto wasn't in the group. He turned around and noticed Naruto standing above the second assassin. The blond seemed lifeless.

"Hey! You're not hurt, are ya? Scaredy cat." Sasuke arrogantly asked. He was proud of himself, and yet irritated that his teammate could do nothing. Kakashi came over to Naruto. Naruto didn't respond to the mock. That's when the jonin knew something is out of place. When he got closer the scarecrow-man noticed both his hands covered in blood. He knew the blood on left hand was from the wound the assassin inflicted on the fox-container when he blocked the attack. Kakashi managed to knock the ninja before he could do any more harm with his gauntlet. But the blood on the right hand. Naruto didn't get hurt in any other place. There was no trace of it. Unless… Could this blood be…? Kakashi quickly turned to the assassin's laying body and turned him on his back and…

The guy had a hole in his chest. And his heart was half way out. The one-eyed jonin was shocked. Great. When did it happen? He turned back to Naruto. The kids mind was cut out from the world because of the mental damage? The first kill is always the toughest. It doesn't matter how strong your will is, it'll never be easy to kill another person for the first time. But it was the outcome now that Kakashi was worried about. Will Naruto Comeback as the same happy go lucky or will he turn out psychopathic as should have been all these years ago considering his life?

"Naruto! Can you hear me? NARUTO?" the silver-haired konoha-nin asked.

"What's with him? Isn't killing something common in the shinobi world?" Sasuke asked. Strangely, this time with concern.

"It is common indeed, Sasuke. But this is Naruto's first kill. And trust me when I tell you- the first is always the worst. I myself puke after my first." Sasuke was surprised. He knew his sensei long enough to tell he was an experienced and strong one. But now that he heard how he took his first kill… If someone of Kakashi's caliber reacted like that, than it really had to be a rough one. Sakura on the other hand trembled. Than the jonin continued, "But now it's the outcome I'm worried about. This kind of experience can change him drastically. And not necessarily in our favor."

Kakashi Called to Naruto one more time. He even snapped before his eyes. After a few seconds he noticed the blonde's hand slowly moving. There was reaction. Then he heard something.

"K…K…Kak…Kakashi…sen…sei…?" Naruto spoke. Finally the kid was waking up. "I… I…"

"It's alright, Naruto. Take it easy. We'll have to…"

"No! I… can go…on" Naruto said.

"I'm afraid you can't. You just had your first kill. You're all shaken up. You need to…"

"Sensei. If you do this to me, I'll never deal with it." Kakashi was somewhat surprised. Naruto was right however. There was still a mission to do. Plus he would have to continue on missions after killing. So this may have been for the best. After a few minutes of rest and settling some thing the team moved out.

* * *

**Two days later, near the Wave Country**

It was late after noon when the mist rose around the shores of an island which was the Wave Country. A small boat was barely visible, which provided a perfect cover for a group of travelers. After a few more minutes they have finally arrived to the shore.

"Good thing this mist is common here." Tazuna said relieved, "Now we will go to my house to rest. In two days time we'll go take the boat and get to see the shipment. Since I'll have to see to some formalities, I'm goin' with ya." Kakashi nodded in agreement. Then he heard Naruto throw his shuriken into some bushes.

"Naruto. I know you're still not fully recovered, but this is ridiculous." The silver-haired man said to the blond. Then Naruto moved to the bushes.

"This time, I swear, I heard something." The knucklehead answered. Moved through the bushes and what he saw made him cry. There was a white rabbit. It was breathing, but was foaming in fear after a meeting with Naruto's shuriken. "Oh no! Poor mister bunny! I'm sorry!" the kid cried out in panic and started to hug the poor animal, while Sakura was about to scowl him for his action. However Kakashi just grew suspicious. The season was not suited for a white rabbit. It should have darkened. Which means this rabbit belongs to somebody. Then Kakashi got serious.

"EVERYBODY! DUCK!" the Hatake screamed. Everyone ducked just in time to avoid a giant blade flying over their heads and slicing into a big tree. Everyone quickly stood up taking their stance. They weren't quite sure were the enemy was right now, but they knew he had to be nearby. Kakashi was looking at the sword. It looked like an oversized butcher knife. The one-eyed ninja had a bad feeling about the situation. This was one of those things he didn't want to get his team into yet.

Soon, his fears came true.

A figure appeared on the swords hilt. It was a tall and muscular man with a pale-gray skin, short, black hair and no eyebrows. He was wearing a Kiri forehead protector, bandages covering the lower part of his face, like Kakashi's mask, long armbands and black pants.

"I say if it isn't Momochi Zabuza." Kakashi said.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" Zabuza said in a mocking manner. "It appears the bridge builder has gotten himself the famous Copycat Ninja for protection." Momochi jumped off the sword, catching the hilt while in midair and pulled it out off the tree. He landed on his feet and started to glare at Tazuna and Team 7. "Hand over the old fart and I want have to kill ya."

"Sorry to disappoint you, mate. But I'm afraid I can't let that happen." Kakashi said with a serious tone. "And since I'm facing someone as strong as you…" the one-eyed man reached for his forehead protector, "I'll have to use THIS." He raised it, revealing something that amused everyone, except for Naruto, who was more scared.

There was a big scar on Kakashi's left side of his face, running vertically and on his eye. When the scarecrow-man opened his eye, it had red, blazing iris with three, black tomoes rotating around the pupil.

"So I get to see the great sharingan. I'm honored." Zabuza said. Then everyone heard Naruto's question.

"Sharingan? What's that?"

"Sharingan is a powerful ocular jutsu." Sasuke began to explain. "Taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu, the three basics of ninja's fighting abilities, become visible and colorful, allowing the wielder to copy any of them and use them." _But what's more important, it is a jutsu typical only for a certain clan. MY clan specifically. So come he has it? _Sasuke thought.

"Team! Surround Tazuna and protect him!" the jonin sensei commanded. The team quickly executed the order.

Then Zabuza jumped and landed on the water. He made a single hand sing and soon the water began to swirl around him. The Copycat Ninja could feel clearly chakra spiking.

"I'm not as foolish as the others who made you earn the title of 'The Master of 1000 Jutsus'. I know how to make this fight go in my favor." The water stopped acting unnatural. Then came the jutsu's name.

"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

A thick mist appeared around. Aside from the assassin, everyone was confused. Were did this fog come from? And why was the enemy now no where to be seen? What jutsu is that?

"Everybody, stand your ground!" Came Kakashi's command. "This is one of Kiri's most priced techniques! Zabuza may now be anywhere!"

"But the mist is so thick. If we can't see him then there's no way he can." Sakura assured. She felt more relaxed now. It was true. There is no way something of this caliber could work effectively without a drawback on the user. But then she heard Naruto's nervous voice.

"But than it would be pointless for him to use this jutsu. Unless he miscalculated its strength or sees us."

"Naruto!" Sakura barked at him, "No one is as clumsy with jutsus as you are. And no one can see in the fog. Not unless…" Suddenly it hit her. What if the swordsman shinobi knew the terrain well enough to move without seeing anything?

_This mist__ is just too thick. Zabuza has more advantage with the water around than I though he would._ Kakashi thought. "Everyone be careful! Zabuza is the master of silent killing. Don't let him surprise you!"

"Eight points." Came Zabuza's voice unexpectedly. The genins and their client were now terrified. They could feel the air was now feeling heavy. Burning. They felt paralyzed. Is that the killers killer intend? "Brain, throat, kidneys, clavicle vein, liver, neck vein, spine, lungs. Where should I strike you?"

Then it was impossible to move. Something stronger than fear took them. Sasuke forced himself to raise his hand and look at it shaking. He could also feel his body sweating. Goosebumps all over him. Is this the killer intend of a jonin. The young Uchiha has never felt anything like this before. It felt as if a single move was the last one in his live.

"Don't you worry there, Sasuke." The brunette turned his attention to his sensei that was calm. He noticed that Kakashi was giving him his iconic eye-smile. "I won't let my comrades die when I'm around." Than the scarecrow-man formed the 'ram' seal, closed his right eye and begun to focus. He was trying to find the enemy. But all that could be heard was birds singing or flying away in fear, the drops of water falling down or crickets.

Than it happened.

"Too late!" said Zabuza appearing within the formation, just between the pink-haired kunoichi, the blond and the bridge-builder. He quickly raised his sword and swung it to strike his target. It was happening fast. Too fast. No one could stop him now. Tazuna could already feel the cold blade slicing his body in two. This was it.

Fortunately, the assassin's attack was blocked in the last moment, stopping the blade just inches away from the client's skin. Zabuza took a look at Kakashi, who was blocking the blade with his kunai, just to get kicked in the face. The assassin quickly collected himself and jumped away to the water side, only to be followed by the silver-haired ninja. Both were now walking on water. The swordsman horizontally slashed the konoha-nin, but missed. Than, Kakashi stab his kunai into the killers shoulder, just to learn it was a water clone. The leader of Team 7 looked around in hopes to find the enemy before…

STAB!

The big sword cut its way into Kakashi's torso. Zabuza was standing right behind him, putting more pressure on the blade. The genins were able to see this, as the mist was dropping. They were horrified. But then their sensei melted and turned into water. Zabuza was stupefied.

"Impossible!" He screamed, just as he felt a kunai on his throat. Kakashi caught him. "Even in this fog you were still able to copy my jutsu. You really deserve the praises you're given."

"It's over, mate. Just give it up." Kakashi said. But then Zabuza exploded, covering the Leaf jonin in water. Before Kakashi could react, the assassination specialist came out of the water with one arm reaching for his prey. Soon, Team 7 leader was imprisoned in a water sphere.

"Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu! It's over now." Zabuza said confidently. "Now then…" He made a single hand sign and some water began to rise, taking shape and soon becoming solid. "Water Clone Jutsu!" Kakashi made an expression that said he was losing his cool. He turned to his team.

"Everyone! Take Tazuna as far away from here as you can!"

"But Kakashi-sensei! We can't just leave you here!" Naruto protested. The others nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry about me! Just get away! The water clone can not follow you for long!"

"You're right." The assassin cut in, "But it's not like I'll let them get away from me. And even when my clone is ten times weaker than me, it's still good enough to keep them here and kill."

"Than I guess we just have to beat you and your clone hard!" Sasuke spoke. He was confident they could manage. But then he heard Zabuza chuckle. That was a bad omen for them.

"You? Beat me? Ha haha! Don't make me laugh, brat. When I was you're age, my hands were already stained by blood." The Clone Zabuza spoke. The kids froze. But it was not by the fact he killed at such young age, but by the way he said it. They could hear pleasure in it.

"That's what would expect from the Demon of the Mist." Kakashi spoke. When he noticed his students' confused expressions, he began to tell them of how a kid, obviously Zabuza, killed everyone in the chunin exams in Kiri just because he failed the graduation exam.

But what he kept to himself was that the swordsman was about 11 or 12, while the chunin candidates were about fourteen and well experienced. His thoughts were soon interrupted by a maniacal laughter. Team 7 turned their eyes to Zabuza, who was shaking and making a psychopathic face. But what they soon heard almost made them wet themselves.

"That was… so… GRRRRRRREEEEEAAAAAAAT!" The assassin's clone then jumped at the genins. The last Uchiha prepared to lunch his fire jutsu, but was too late. The clone hit him hard sending him away. Then he turned to the blond, who just couldn't move. Naruto fell. Then he raised his right hand and noticed something that didn't escape the assassin's attention.

The hand still had some blood. This made Naruto think. He can't run away now. Sure, he didn't like it that he killed someone. But than again, as he recalls it, Kakashi told him that killing should be only when 'no other option' situation. Besides, if he was to run, he would fail his mission, his sensei and everything he wanted to achieve.

The blond quickly stood up, reached for his pouch and threw three shurikens at his opponent. 'Zabuza', of course, deflected them with his sword. When he focused on Naruto again, he found himself surrounded by dozens of the blonds.

'_Hmm. Shadow clones, eh? Well this kid is somethin' intriguing.'_ Zabuza thought, as one Naruto jumped at him. The assassin dodged, but was impressed by the small crater the blond left in the ground. '_This kid is really becoming interesting._' Before the swordsman could land, all the shadow clones dog piled him. The original blond mentally cheered. There was no way the enemy could get out of this one. Or so he thought.

All the clones were thrown away by the assassin like marbles. One by one they began to explode. Naruto quickly reached for his backpack and pulled something out of it. "Hey, Sasuke! Catch!" He threw the object to his teammate, who easily caught it. He recognized the tool: the demon windmill shuriken. Sasuke unrolled it from the machete-like shape to the true shuriken shape. He aimed at the clone and threw it. The projectile was spinning like a tornado while incoming on the target.

'_Hmm. A Demon Windmill Shuriken. That will never hit me._' The clone said. But then the real Zabuza noticed it flew by pass the clone and heading towards him. 'It's going straight for me, eh?' The assassin reached his hand out in the last minute and caught the shuriken. 'There's no way it would have hit…' then he noticed another projectile incoming from nowhere. "Another shuriken, hidden in the shadow of the first one!' Zabuza was surprised… a bit. He didn't expect the genins to be this clever. But unluckily for Team 7, Zabuza was too experienced and simply jumped upwards, without taking his hand out of the water bubble. The projectile flew under the ex-Kiri-nin. Zabuza was now laughing like a mad man. He could feel victory. He was going to command his clone to attack Tazuna, when two unexpected things happened.

First, his water clone exploded. The assassin was shocked. When did they manage to attach an explosive tag? There's no way they could do it without him or the clone realizing it. Then he remembered when the blond and his clones dog-piled the water copy of the assassin. That was the only moment good enough to set that trap. And speaking of the blond kid… Zabuza looked around and couldn't find him anywhere. That's when the second thing happened.

The shuriken puffed, revealing it was actually Naruto transformed into the weapon. Aside from Sasuke, everybody was surprised. Even Kakashi. The knucklehead, while still in the air, threw his kunai aim for Zabuza. The silent kill master knew that he had no other choice. He had to let the jutsu go in order to avoid the projectile. He pulled his hand out and jumped away. The kunai missed. Zabuza was so furious with the blonde's stunt that he charged at him. Oh how he wanted blood. Naruto was in the water, unable to dodge the attack. The assassin was about to slash the kid's head with the shuriken he caught earlier. The blond was certain he was going to die now.

Clank! The slash never came. The Copy-cat ninja blocked the attack using the metal plate on his glove.

"Jolly good, Naruto. You pulled off a fancy trick on this one." Kakashi complimented the blond. Naruto smiled at the sound of that. "Now you'd better get out of here. This place is about to change from a pleasant lake into an ocean in the storm." Naruto understood what his sensei meant by that and he quickly evacuated. The Leaf jonin on the other hand was going to beat his opponent dead. "Just so you know, Zabuza, I can't be caught by the same jutsu twice."

"Ha! You think this'll scare me?" Zabuza mocked. The two jonins ran further away from the shore, and as soon as they stopped, the swordsman began making hand seals. Kakashi recognized the jutsu sequence immediately and began to copy the seals. The sequence was a long one. But as soon as they finished…

"Water style: Water Dragon Bullet!" the two shouted. And from the water itself two streams of water rose, circling the ninjas. The streams took shape of the dragons with yellow eyes, glowing stronger than the sharingan itself. The two jutsus hit one-another. A fountain of water everywhere. The assassin and the jonin sensei were truckling, kunai vs. sword. None could gain the advantage. Finally they jumped away from each other. Both took the same stance again, gathering chakra.

"You are just copying my…" Zabuza started…

"… every move with that eye of yours." Kakashi finished.

"You're just a monkey. You can't defeat me with these cheap tricks!" both said at the same time. Zabuza was confused. What the hell…? How could the konoha-nin know what was he going to say. A shadow appeared soon behind the copy-cat. Zabuza couldn't understand what was happening. He was scared. That shadow was him. A transformed clone? A genjutsu? It was all too confusing. He looked into Kakashi's sharingan-eye and saw the tomoes rotating faster than originally, creating a black ring. Before the swordsman did anything though…

"Water Style: Great Waterfall Jutsu!" A huge stream of water shot towards Zabuza, hitting him into a tree. The assassin was injured badly. He could tell himself that he had a concussion and possibly a few broken ribs. He still looked up to look at Kakashi, who was enclosing on him.

"Can… Can you see… *Cough*… see the future?"

"Yes, I can." The Copy-cat answered, preparing his kunai for the final blow. "I see your death."

Stab!

Kakashi's eyes widen when he saw two senbons coming out of Zabuza's neck. The assassin's head fell down. The Demon of the Mist was no more. But Kakashi didn't let his guard down. Who threw these senbons? Is it a friend or another enemy? Then a short person, dressed in a dark kimono and wearing a mask with a red design, appeared next to the swordsman's body.

"Thank you for your assistance. I've been trying to catch this one for some time now." Said the masked one. Kakashi eased his stance, feeling a little more relaxed.

"I take it by your uniform that you're a hunter-nin from the Hidden Mist Village?"

"Indeed. Ever since Zabuza failed the assassination of our beloved Mizukage and the coup d'état, he became the priority of all the hunter-nins in our village."

The Kiri-nin grabbed the body and vanished. Kakashi put his headband back to cover his left eye. He wanted to return to the others, but he couldn't make a single step. His body felt heavy, like he was carrying a backpack filled with rocks for a week without a break. His vision was blurry. He couldn't recognize any shapes at all. Finally… he collapsed. He couldn't help but let himself loose consciousness.

* * *

Omake

The night was peaceful as usually in the Hidden Leaf Village. A clear night sky allowing the moon to illuminate the landscape. The sound of the crickets, even owls, serving as the music bringing life to the darkness.

The shadows of the streets were however interrupted by a shadow running to its destination. Avoiding any light, hiding from the patrols. The silhouette was swift and fast, soon reaching its destination. Soon the sneaker reached an old flat. The figure jumped up and ran up the wall, reaching one certain window and broke in. the figure was dressed in a complete black cat suit and by the figure one could tell it was a girl. She took of her mask, revealing her purple hair. Anko reached for her pouch and pulled out little back with marbles, which she dropped before the entrance door. You see, Anko and Naruto had this rivalry in pranking one another. This time, Anko's pranks was about having Naruto fall and trigger a trap, which would drop some tar, feathers and make up on him and then make a photo of him.

Young kunoichi's trap was set and ready in about 30 minutes. Now all she had to do is waiting. And so she waited.

It was now midnight and she still waited with the camera in her hands.

Sun rise. She was still there, as if petrified, aside from the dark rings under her eyes.

Two days later, midnight, and… yeah. That's right. She was still there. But finally, this time someone was at the door. Anko was shivering in excitement. The door opened. Someone entered the room. And as soon as that person entered, the trap was triggered. In the manner of seconds, it was all over. Anko jumped out from her hiding and was taking photos. But then see noticed something out of place. It wasn't Naruto, but Iruka. Why the hell was Iruka here? The girl took a few steps back, turned around to think and saw something on Naruto's pillow. It was a note which said:

Dear Anko!

Since you're most likely to enter my apartment, you should know I'm most likely still on a mission outside the village. Since Iruka-sensei needs to pick up something from here, you should know not to do ANYTHING.

See ya,

Naruto, the Greatest Shinobi of them all. :)

"Oops." Anko blushed in embarrassment for what she did. She put the note into her pocket and, whistling, she slowly came to the window and jumped out, disappearing in the blackness of the night.

* * *

**A/N.: So what do you think? And yes, I'm trying to make Kakashi sound like talking with a stereotypical British accent. Any suggestions in this will be welcome. Ha ha! plus, though I may make up my mind, for now I'm open to the potential pairings. See ya next time!**


	7. Chapter 6 Wave mission part 3

"Naruto"- normal speech

'_Naruto_'- thought

Naruto- jutsu name

* * *

Charter 6

Wale mission- part 3- Ready to set sail?

His vision was all blurry at first. His head hurting him as if a rock hit him, but Hatake Kakashi managed to pull himself together and could see a lot better. He looked around, finding himself in a room. It wasn't exactly a luxurious looking one, but who was he to complain? He tried to sit, but his body was aching. Just then he remembered his fight with Zabuza, the assassin rogue-nin from the Hidden Mist Village, and losing consciousness. So clearly someone took him and started to look after him.

His train of thoughts was stopped when the door opened and his students came in along with Tazuna and a young woman with long, black hair. The Copy-cat ninja felt relieved when seeing them. He guessed that the genins must have taken him to the bridge builder's house. He tried to sit again, but Sakura ran over and prevented him from doing so.

"Kakashi-sensei. You need to rest." young kunoichi said with concern. Still, Kakashi tried to do what he tried. But then the older woman stepped in and made the silver-haired jonin lay back.

"Mr. Kakashi! You pushed yourself too hard out there so you'd better take a rest NOW!" she shouted out the last word so loud, the jonin paled a little. Tazuna quickly whispered something to her ear and she calmly walked out the room.

"Please forgive my daughter" the old man started. "Tsunami happens to have… a temper at times." Team 7 sweat dropped. A temper? "Still, I thank you, Mr. Kakashi. For getting us here. But we still have a job to do."

"You mean that shipment, right?" Kakashi asked, though he knew it's obvious.

"Yes. I'd like us sail out tomorrow morning. That way, we'll be back here in about four days." Tazuna explained. Of course he was going to explain the details later. But for now, he left the Leaf shinobis to themselves.

"Kakashi-sensei? Mind tellin' us how did 'cha handled that Eyebrowless Freak?" the blond knucklehead asked in his usual loud manner way. Kakashi turned to face students.

"There was a hunter-nin, who took Zabuza. And I think he was an imposter."

"Huh? Why's that?"

"Because the real one would have taken care of the body on the spot right there, lad. So since our jolly good fellow Zabuza is still horsing around, guess I'll have to train you properly for our next encounter with him."

"Ha! What for? We did fool him back then." Naruto laughed. But then he noticed a serious look on Kakashi's face and quickly calmed down.

"True! But he won't be so clumsy with us next time. Now he knows what to expect, so he will be better prepared. That's why tomorrow I'm going to teach you something new." At the sound of that, the prankster got all excited, while Sasuke smiled and Sakura giggled. Their jonin-sensei was eye-smiled seeing their reaction.

* * *

**Unknown location**

Zabuza finally regained his consciousness. He couldn't move yet and was in pain, but at least he lived. He looked around the dark room of his hideout and spotted the hunter-nin imposter. His partner has saved and was attending to his wounds right now.

"Nice work. You took me outta there just in time."

"Indeed. However I had to hit your pressure points and get you into a death-like state to have a good excuse to take you away." The masked kid answered with a lot of concern in his voice. He was wrapping some bandages on the assassin's arm, when they all heard someone enter. They looked in the direction of the door and noticed a short man elegantly dressed, with long brown hair, moustache and sunglasses. He was obviously furious at Zabuza.

"What the hell, Zabuza?" the short man asked, "I hired you to kill Tazuna, not get nearly killed!"

"Relax, Gato." The Demon of the Mist answered him calmly, not intimidated, "I wasn't expectin' one of the most powerful shinobi from the Leaf to be with him. Fortunately, I did think fast enough ta use that ta learn more 'bout 'im. So next time we meet, I'll be the one standin'." Gato looked unimpressed. He was about to hit the former Mist-nin, but then he felt his arm being broke by the fake hunter-nin. The short man began to curse under his nose and was about to order his men to kill the kid but was stopped. There, before his big nose, was a kunai pointed at him.

"You will not touch master Zabuza. Am I clear?" The killer's sidekick said intimidating the short man. Gato nodded. Once the kunai was taken away from him, he stood up, turned away and took his leave. Clearly he wasn't satisfied with this. How dare that kid… he broke his arm. Pure rage was visible on the gangster's face. He so wanted to kill the brat for raising an arm on him. Yet he was smart enough to collect himself. He wouldn't stand a chance against a shinobi after all, would he? No. he would rather wait for the right time and then have his payback. Soon enough, Gato and his escort were gone. Zabuza chuckled.

"Nice one, kiddo. That should teach that raccoon-tall idiot not ta be messin' with us." The killer continued to chuckle when a sudden felling of pain attacked him. His young comrade began to act quickly. "Heal me as fast as possible. I wanna kill both Kakashi 'n' Tazuna painfully as possible. Also I wanna repay that blond for in humiliating me."

* * *

**Late afternoon, forest, near Tazuna's hut**

Team 7 followed their team leader through the forest for several minutes now. The three genins were wondering what their sensei was going to teach them. Though the one-eyed jonin was far from rested, he knew he needs to train them in order to prepare them to fight Zabuza and his friend. Of course, the first time he tried to get out of bed, his body refused. But it was far better than the second, when Tsunami nearly hit him with his frying pan. But he did get to rise up and take his students to toughen them up.

Finally, Kakashi stopped in the middle of a small field with three similar trees, which surprisingly looked like made out of stone rather than wood. The jonin went to analyze them more closely. His students were however confused. Why was their sensei studying the trees? Was it for their training at all? Maybe he just loves to study trees. It wasn't long until the silver-haired ninja returned to them, giving each one of them a kunai.

"Okay than, kiddies." he started, "Now we will do a good exercise for your chakra control." He noticed all three of them raise their eyebrows in a questioning look. Sakura raised her hand.

"Um, Kakashi-sensei? How is that going to help us exactly?"

"Well, since you really wish to know… By improving your chakra control, you'll basically be able to conserve more chakra during battle. You see, as you all are right now, you're using too much chakra, literally wasting it, while performing jutsu. With this exercise, you'll be able to safe more and therefore last longer in battle. Understand?"

"Kakashi-sensei? How exactly are we supposed to improve our chakra control? That is… what kind of exercise EXACTLY are we to perform?" the blond knucklehead asked. Sakura had a look of annoyance hearing him ask that, but then again he had a point. The basic training they were doing back in academy, the 'Leaf exercise', was a good one. But when they needed that, they were just learning how control chakra in the first place. Now they really needed something to help them control it more precisely. Kakashi just coughed at that.

"Well now, that's really simple, lads. This exercise is called 'Tree climbing exercise'!" He paused for a moment to take a good look at their faces. They were looking at the not-really-one-eyed-jonin as if he was a complete idiot who fell on his head and hit an anvil the day he was born. He gave them an eye-smile, showing he expected that kind of reaction from them. "Now, now. I know how that sounds. But believe me. It's a bit different from climbing a tree for you will all have to climb a tree without using your hands."

Kakashi made a 'ram' hand-seal and gathered some chakra, explaining that gathering it to the sole of the foot is the hardest. Soon, his feet began to glow blue and the jonin-sensei was walking upwards the tree like on ground itself. After a few more seconds of his performance, he gave the genins a sign to start the exercise. Each of them began by running towards their tree, though Naruto had to run from a smaller distance since Kakashi feared the fox-container would otherwise ram the tree down. After a dozen of minutes, the results were indifferent. Naruto climbed up about six feet. Sasuke was doing better since he was almost half way to the top. Surprisingly Sakura was performing perfect. She reached the top by the second attempt, as by the first one she got distracted with Uchiha's lost of attachment. The pink-haired was the weakest in the team when it came to stamina or strength, so it is natural that her chakra control should be near perfect if not THE perfect. An hour has past since the exercise began and only the boys continued, since the silver-haired ninja found that his female student no longer needed to trouble herself. The boys would sometimes stop their training to ask Sakura for any tips on this exercise or to ask her what they were doing wrong. Naturally they were making a lot of them learning that too little chakra wouldn't stick them to the surface of the tree properly or at all, while too much- would blast them off. Hatake was happy. Not because of their progress of chakra control, but of their team work. Especially the brunette boy, who usually lets himself be taken by his superiority complex, was now more open.

* * *

**Sunset. Tazuna's house.**

Tazuna and his daughter were sitting by the table along with his two shinobi guardians. Namely Kakashi and Sakura. If you're asking where the rest of Team 7 is, well, they're still training. You see, Naruto and Sasuke have decided to turn the exercise into competition, as they grew tired of it. That was about seven and a half hour ago. To think they would be this determined. Tsunami was of course mad that she couldn't serve dinner yet. The Leaf-jonin had a bad feeling about this. The chills. Luckily she quickly cheered up when the boys finally returned. They both were sweaty, dirty and tired so badly, they had to support one another to reach the house and not collapse.

"We're back" Sasuke called. Soon enough everyone was eating. Man they were hungry. The two boys in particular. They were eating each for ten men. Kakashi was laughing seeing them. It even made him remember his days as a kid. Even the bridge builder joined him. Tsunami wasn't paying really much attention to them, as she could understand their hunger, but Sakura, well, was more than disgusted. Of course, as she had it in her habit, she kept accusing the blond for being a pig, even though the Uchiha was far from better mannered himself.

When everyone was finally done with their meal, Tazuna took this as a proper moment to talk with Kakashi about the incoming days. They talked about it for hours. In the talk, the jonin learn that the shipment was really a shipment, not some operation to get rid of Gato. Tazuna explained that the shipment most likely will depart the next day morning and arrive at sunset the other. It was about three ships mainly with the materials for the bridge and some other supplies like food, medicine etc. but what had the middle-aged man worried was that there could be pirates on the waters if not Gato's thugs. This shipment happened to be more important when Tazuna told them that this is the LAST shipment they could afford, as well as the bridge materials were for the final stage of the construction. Kakashi knew that the people of Wave were in deep trouble, but this… He had no idea they were just this desperate. On the other hand, this just explained even more about the bridge builder's earlier actions and silence.

"Very well, Mr. Tazuna. We shall join you then and sail out to meet with the shipment and protect it." The Leaf-nin said. Tazuna was quite shock and happy to hear that the shinobi he hired were willing to actually assist him. Each of the genins showed him they were also ready to help out. They were all fired up, especially Naruto. And then…

"You should all just give up!" a voice stopped their thoughts. Everyone took a look in one direction to see a small boy, much younger then the genins, who was glaring at them.

"Oh, 'n' why would we do that kinda thing, pipsqueak?" Naruto asked him in his usual way, returning the glare. The brat's glare has just hardened.

"Because you will all just die! Only idiots are so willing to sacrifice themselves for nothing!" The child yelled back at him. Naruto grew actually angry at the boy's believes. Before he could talk back, the nine-year-old ran away to his room and shut the door.

"I am really sorry about my son's behavior. Inari's just… difficult." Tsunami said apologetically to the ninjas. Then both her and her father explained that in the past, a man from outside the Wave, Kaiza, arrived and saved Inari's live. The man grew close to all of them, especially the boy, who saw a father figure in him. They were a happy family, until Gato arrived. Kaiza organized a small defiance group to chase the gangster out, but failed miserably, ending up as an example to all who would try to defy him. After hearing that story, the blond eased off a bit upon his opinion of Inari, but he was still mad at him. He was so mad, he didn't even care when Kakashi decided to take Sakura and Sasuke to with him and Tazuna.

* * *

**Early dawn. A few miles off the coast.**

The boat was really fast. Kakashi just couldn't believe when the boatman said they should meet up with the shipment by late afternoon. Then again, they departed really early in the morning. The Leaf-nin took a look at his students, just before Sakura managed to ask a question.

"Kakashi-sensei. You know Naruto wasn't truly paying attention when you said he's staying?"

"Oh, no need to worry there, dearie. I did let Naruto know about our plan before we got to bed."

"Yeah? How?" Sasuke asked. As the jonin with the gravity-defying-like hair was about to answer, they all heard something that sounded like "Dammit, sensei! How could ya leave me here? I wanna go too!" The two students were giving a questioning look to their sensei, who was sweat dropping.

"Oh my. What a strange wind people have here."

* * *

Several hours have past already and still the ships with the supplies were nowhere to be seen. Tazuna was getting pretty worried now. They kept their course for the island from which the shipment was to set off, the Rich Rat Island. The bridge builder hoped that the ships simply had a delay. The sun was about to set, when finally they could see the island. The middle-aged man guessed correctly and was actually happy about it. But what troubled him now was why the delay. When the group of the ninjas from Konoha and their client finally reached the shore, they immediately ran to the docks to find the leader of the group. Tazuna quickly found that person. To Kakashi's surprise however, it wasn't a man with disgusting appearance who would stink of alcohol. No! It was a young, beautiful woman, with short, white hair, yellow eyes, wearing green baggy pants, wooden sandals and a short, blue, almost unzipped jacket. At that moment, the silver-haired jonin was quite pleased he wasn't a pervert, for the bridge builder's pervert-sense took the better of him when he saw her perfect cleavage and paid the price for his act. The woman noticed the shinobi and gave him and his student a big grin, surprisingly similar to Naruto's.

"So, Old Drunk, I take it these guys are with you?" she asked the older man while keeping her eyes on the ninjas.

"Well… um, yes. Indeed they're with me, Chika. These people are here to help us." Tazuna said. He was still in pain after that strike of hers. She kept analyzing Team 7, apparently trying to find something suspicious. Finally, she turned to the bridge builder, giving him a hard glare. Then she turned to face Kakashi, who certainly got surprised with her glare. Did she found something she didn't like about them?

"You! The guy with a fore-head protector for an eye-patch! You think you're tough enough to fight off a big group of pirates, who terrorize these waters for decades? Huh!"

Kakashi got a little nervous now. That woman may have an extremely attractive appearance, but she was no push over. For some strange reason, he felt real small and powerless now. He just nodded to her question, hoping it would be enough for her. His students however couldn't believe what they saw. Chika was no shinobi, and here, just before their eyes, their sensei was acting like a pitiful man. The woman walked a little closer to the jonin, raising her arm up. The silver-haired man shut his eye quickly, as if expecting an attack. But what he got was a big, hard clap on the shoulder, which made him loose his balance. He couldn't believe what he heard the moment before that clap. A loud laugh. "I like you, man. You sure know how to respect a woman with authority when you see one. Haha." Chika reached her hand out and helped Hatake get on his feet. Soon after that, she returned to Tazuna. "Alright, you Old Drunk. Sorry we're not on the way, but we had some trouble getting the last load on the boat."

"Boat?" the Leaf-nins were surprised. They though they were going to travel with a ship. Only now did they notice that instead of big tanker-like ships, there were just big, wooden boats. About twenty of them. And they were painted blue. Kakashi quickly came to realize, that it must be for stealth. After all, how else would they be able to get the supplies to Wave without getting caught?

"So, I take it Gato must know about you?"

"Right you are, you one-eyed hottie. That's why I for one am glad to have some shinobi for extra protection, even though we won't probably need more."

Sakura and her teammate were taken off by surprise by the comment. Kakashi? A hottie? Sure, they did see some women staring at their sensei strangely, but this is the first time someone called him a hottie. Was he really that GOOD looking under that mask of his?

"Anyway, are you ready to sail off?" the leader of Team 7 asked. Chika nodded and commanded her crew to prepare.

* * *

**Meanwhile. Somewhere in Wave.**

"The shipment will probably be here by tomorrow night. I want it disposed of before it reaches the shore of my country. Is that clear?" Gato yelled, hitting his cast on the table. The shadowy figure simply gave a sickly smile, showing three normal, human teeth, while the rest of them looked like bear ones.

"Doncha worry 'ere, land lover. Me and me boys will handle them little fishies before ya know it."

"Well I'm countin' on it. I certainly am not gonna take any chances with that Tazuna guy's bridge being finished even if he'll die."

"Like I said, Gato. I ain't no fool who can't do their job right. When I do them bloody part of the job, I DO them as bloody as possible." The man said, as his right eye began to glow unnatural purple, giving the gangster the creeps.

* * *

A/N. Well next time, your gonna get some sea battle. The next chapter won't be focusing this time just on Naruto, maybe. well, see ya.


	8. Chapter 7 Wave mission part 4

**Charter 7**

**Mission to Wave- part 4- Yo-ho-ho and the fearsome sailor fight**

Sun rose on the sky, making it look like emerged from the sea. A few smaller islands could be seen from time to time for these 20 boats that were traveling to Wave in order to deliver the necessary resources for the bridge construction. The captain and de facto leader of this group, Chika, was not about to fail the chief of construction, Tazuna, as she too hated Gato, the investor and gangster, who became the self-proclaimed land lord of the country. She was delayed enough as she was with the load, so she was going to get to her destiny tonight even if she had to stroke herself.

Team 7 was incredibly impressed by their progress. They should reach the shores of Wave before sunset. It's been 14 hours since they set sail and so far there was nothing to interrupt them. No storm, beasts, no mutiny, and no pirates. Sakura was even wondering if they'll be of any help at all. Fortunately they were. From time to time Team 7 used to substitute people at rowing, at the other occasions they would help check the status of the boats. But mostly there was nothing to help with really. Sometimes Sakura even wished Naruto was here, since he actually could keep the team's spirit.

Speaking of Naruto, she wondered how that knucklehead was doing.

* * *

**Wave. The town.**

Naruto was incredibly furious, to say the least, about being left. This was one of the things he hated about his sensei- being considered for 'stay 'n' guard' job. Right after he ended up watching as his team, along with Tazuna, was on their way to the shipment crew, Naruto returned immediately to where they have learned the tree walking exercise. There, he practiced for a few more hours to improve the skill, and after that failed to calm him down, he was hitting the stones, until the pain was too great to handle or he fainted out of exhaustion.

But that was yesterday. Now, since he couldn't come up with anything practical, he decided to take a walk around. But what he saw depressed him further. The building were in bad shape, even worst than his own apartment complex. People were in not so much better shape themselves. Hungry, dirty or sick. Some of were even became the thugs, while others were beggars. The situation was worst than he believed it was. The blond soon learned, the painful way, that some businesses were being closed because of the poor situation, including a ramen stand.

As the knucklehead shinobi could no longer stand it, he went out of town. There was a small forest on a strange hill. He heard from Tsunami this morning that there is on old temple worth seeing. Naruto though it might actually be a good thing to distract him from sensei treachery.

After about five minutes of walking, the boy soon found the gates and the stairs, no doubt leading to the temple. As he climbed the stairs, he wondered what kind of temple it is exactly. He was a little disappointed when he finally reached the destination. The structure was mostly in ruins.

* * *

**Somewhere on the sea.**

The boats' crew had it quite easy so far. At this rate, they would most likely reach Wave BEFORE sunset. Everyone was happy about it, as they were paddling for 17 hours now. Of course there were shifts and all, but it was still tiring. Every time Kakashi took a look at the Captain-in-command of the group motivating people to work hard, the more he wondered if that's why she was chosen to lead. There were just no sign of mutiny. There was some complaining, of course, but it was as if Chika could make the crew see more clearly what was at stake here. As if she could reach their soul. That sure was a unique feat.

But now there was a fog in their way. Since the sailors wear expecting it, judging by the weather, there was a long discussion whether to go through it or not. Or one hand, the fog was a great trap for pirates to attack the shipment all of the sudden. The silver-haired jonin heard numerous tales of how the ships were taken out by the pirates, who used the fog as a cover to attack out of nowhere. On the other hand, they needed to get to their destination swiftly and unnoticed. And by taking a detour they would risk being spotted by Gato's thugs on shores of Wave.

"Well than, how should we settle this?" Tazuna asked. Since the boats were delivering mainly the construction materials, he had a saying in the matter. But also did Chika, who was an experienced sailor and the captain leading the group. The third person to discuss the matter was none other than Kakashi Hatake, who was an expert fighter.

"I say we go through that milk and have this over with. I ain't afraid of any pirates." The captain said, earning a glare from the copy-cat.

"I must say, lass, it is a good feat indeed. However, I doubt we have a good fighting capability. These here are sailors, not fighters."

"You'd be surprised to see how good of a fight my boy can put up, you Sloth-face."

"And I presume they're good enough to handle a shinobi group. I just don't want to…"

"You think it takes shinobi training and all their 'mumbo jumbo' to be a good fighter?" Chika roared at Kakashi, making him pop his eye, while Tazuna got scared. "I've been sailin' these waters for far longer than you're students have lived. I have experience in fights. I even know my crew is capable of handling a tough situation the smart way. So if you're scared about our safety, you shouldn't have gotten you underestimating little ass on my bout!"

Kakashi was skeptically eying her. That woman was insane? No. She was smart. She is perfectly aware the pirates happen to have shinobi on their ranks from time to time, and still she's a sailor. Apparently, she used to face them. But still, if they were to meet Zabuza in that mist, or anyone close to his rank, Kakashi would be of little help since he was still worn out after his last fight. He wondered about their situation, until he had an idea.

"Let the bridge builder have the call on this one. After all, it's his country that's at need." That was a smart play. Tazuna was a bit scared at first, but he soon realized that the Leaf-nin was right, no matter how you look at it. Both the jonin and the female captain were hired by him. So if anyone was to decide, it was him. Kakashi after all was only concerned the fog would be too dangerous, while Chika feared the detour would too much time and expose them. Of two evils, it was maybe better to take the faster route. Especially since the fog could provide some cover for them as well.

"Let's move through the fog. It'll provide a better cover along with our camouflage." The aged bridge builder decided. While the white-haired woman merely smiled, the jonin sighed, as he didn't exactly like the idea. But the choice was made. He could now only hope they were lucky, as they set their course through the fog.

* * *

Sakura was just finished serving some water to the paddlers. Boy, was she impressed by their stamina and strength. These people were stroking for about three hours now, and they could still keep going. For about an hour at most. Now she wished she could only be on the same boat as Sasuke was. Especially since she was sure he was shirtless. Man, would that be a sight a la 'see it and die happy'. Just thinking about it made her blush and drool. Actually, that gave her an idea. So she reached for her bag and pulled out a telescope. The pink haired girl searched the boats with it, in order to find the brunette. Soon she spotted him and before she got a better look… a fog interfered. Sakura was stupefied and enraged. How dare that stupid blonde…? Oh wait. He wasn't with them, so there's no way he could have a hand in this. But still, how dare anyone or anything disturb her at the time like this?

* * *

Several minutes have past since the group entered the fog. So far so good. Nothing wrong was happening. It seemed as if Heaven favored them. But Kakashi knew better than to drop his guard. Even tough the sun was the only thing anyone could see through this thick fog, the Leaf-nin had a bad feeling, telling him that there were trouble up a head.

And so his fears became reality.

Everyone suddenly heard a thunderous sound, and out of nowhere came a huge arrow. Fortunately, it missed. But still the question was: who was attacking them? Gato's thugs or pirates? Well, which ever it was, none ware any good. He wanted to reveal his sharingan, but considering he was still in no shape, he had to wait with it as a last resort. Before his mind could properly set to the reality, an arrow scratched his mask. Wait! An arrow? But there wasn't any whistling. Just what is happening? Kakashi wanted to pick up an arrow, when he heard screams. He noticed one of the boats was catching on fire. It frightened him. But what got him wonder more was how the enemy knew where to attack.

Chika quickly grabbed the radio, only to here her comrades' screams. From what she could tell, there were three boats on fire already. The crew was loosing their spirit.

* * *

Sasuke was surprised when he saw one of the pirates right in front of him. The man tried to decapitate him, but the Uchiha ducked and delivered a powerful kick to the scum's side. Sadly, the man endured the pain and charged at the genin. The young Uchiha was going through a series of hand seals, but he wasn't fast enough, to his surprise. Sasuke evaded the attack again, and this time he stabbed the pirate in the chest with a kunai. His enemy was slowly falling. Sasuke would be reacting to his first kill now, if it wasn't for another two pirates charging at him. The genin went though the series of hand seals again and this time he finished, as he called out…

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" he blew and from his mouth came a huge ball of fire, which caught one of the hostiles, while the other just got his right arm crisped. The one who was now on fire quickly jumped into the water and as he was drifting, he saw his companion soon joining him.

* * *

The mist slowly was lifting, allowing Kakashi to get a better view on the enemy. It was still there, but now he could see clearly enough, to tell there were 7 ships surrounding the group. But what pirate would be this good? His answer was quickly delivered in the form of five pirates surrounding him. The jonin wasn't seriously worried with that, but still was careful.

One of the pirates jumped at him with a wakizashi ready to stab him. Kakashi was however faster and deflected the blade with a kunai hidden in his sleeve and, without loosing his opening, delivered a powerful strike with an elbow in the man's face. The man's grip on his sword loosened enough for the ninja to take the weapon and quickly block the attack of the other pirate, who had come with two tantos. Kakashi wanted to kick him, but his senses quickly told him to jump. That proved to be the best choice of actions, as he was almost cut with a scythe. He landed on the very edge of the boat. And now he had to choose, whether to attack or not. But them he was caught with a chain. The big-sized pirate, who was wielding the said chain, smiled at his handy-work and pulled the ninja with all his might. While the leaf-jonin was on flying, the pirate with the scythe appeared before him and delivered the strike. Imagine the surprise when the pirates found a log cut in two, not the ninja. If you were to say they were surprised, stupefied or confused, that wouldn't be true even in two hundred year of language evolution.

Two of the pirates were suddenly knocked out with a strike in the pressure point. To be more exact, it was the giant with the chain and the one who attacked first. Now the silver-haired shinobi had to deal with the one with the scythe and the other with two tanto swords. But what got him wondering as well as worried was the fifth pirate, who didn't make a move. Why was he just standing there? Most likely he was waiting for an opening. That was bad, for it could only mean that these pirates were experienced when fighting shinobi. Their attacks were précised, calculated, teamed, fast and rapid, so the ninja didn't had enough time to perform a jutsu.

Kakashi wanted to reveal his sharingan now, but suddenly something felt wrong. As if his arm wasn't moving. Before he could check his arm for injuries, the man with the scythe jumped forward. He tried to stab the ninja, but the jonin proved faster. His blade was blocked by a kunai. Yet he smiled. Why was he smiling? Because the one with two tantos appeared from behind and was ready to scissor-strike the ninja.

* * *

Sakura was quite scared. She didn't know what to do. All she could do is watch as the other boats are being attacked. Screams, fire, arrows. That was horrifying. She was afraid the sailors were going to die. She already saw one boat sinking. That's terrible. Why wasn't Kakashi-sensei acting? If this shipment is lost, than people in Wave will loose all hope. One of the sailors panted her back, scaring her at first. When she turned around, she saw a tall, strong looking man with a large scar on his bare, haired chest.

"Missy, you'd better go under the deck. I'll need you're help." Sakura was confused at first, but judging from the seriousness on his face, she would do better following his orders.

"Why are we going under the…?"

"We have to get the engine running."

"The engine?"

* * *

The man with two tantos was shocked, to say the least. That sight before him was all wrong. He aimed for the leaf-nin. And he sliced his partner. That made him mad, for he never, NEVER in his entire carrier, has missed. And this moved was his best when partnered with the one who was now dead at his feet. The pirate turned around to face Kakashi. How dare he? He was about to charge, when a nodachi. Kakashi wasn't really expecting that. Now there was just one pirate facing him. The fifth of the group. The man was surprisingly just a silhouette. Nothing really to see of his face. But the fog wasn't that thick. Kakashi decided not to wait and through a kunai at his enemy. But once it hit him, he dispersed into smoke.

"Aye. That wuz a fine brawl ye had there, lad." The leaf-nin heard a strange, creepy voice. When he turned to the owner of it, he saw a scrawny looking man with a long red beard and short, spiky brown hair and an eye-patch on his right eye. The man was dressed in black shirt with red jacket, long, dark red pant and wore high boots. But what was very characteristic was his smile. A sick, twisted smile, revealing only three human teeth, while the rest was bear-like. "However, now ye'll haff ta fight me, land lover. An' trust me, I am good."

Before Kakashi could take his stance, something unbelievable happened. The pirate was already by his side. He was fast. But the leader of Team 7 was able to avoid the horizontal slash delivered by his opponent. The jonin pulled out another kunai, and was already forced to block another slash. That wasn't good enough. The pirate delivered a strong punch straight in Kakashi's face.

The jonin couldn't believe it. He heard about people, who, even though weren't ninja, could stand their own against one, but none of them were on even with experienced chunin. And this guy could certainly be even with Kakashi even at his high. Could he be a rogue-nin? But from where? And why wasn't he using taijutsu? No. it wasn't that. It was more as if that man used to fighting ninjas. But this speed…

Another slash came. The jonin blocked and was kicked in the gut. Than the man stabbed the leaf-nin, only to find a barrel. The man barely turned and already managed to block a punch. Kakashi was getting desperate. He had to use sharingan if he was going to win this. But before he could even touch his forehead protector, he was kicked again.

"This is bad, mate. You're actually well fitting to be a shinobi." The jonin said, only to get a response in the form of a laugh.

"M' greatest advantage in this 'ere brawl of ours, Hatake, isn't m' speed or skill. It's experience." Kakashi was shocked. One- the man knew exactly who he was facing. Two- judging by the way he fought and easily had the upper hand all along, that man really had to face a hell of ninjas. And now, he was about to include him. "Good-bye!"

*Stab*

The pirate was smiling. He hit. But instead of Kakashi, there was the pirate whom he killed. He turned to his right, to find the jonin sitting on the railing. When the leaf-nin was about to reveal his left eye… His hand missed the clothing on it? How was that? Kakashi looked at the man before him, who took off his eye-patch, revealing a glowing, green eye with two blue irises and pupils. It looked like he had two eyes, merged, in his right eye-socked. Kakashi's eye popped in fear. Now he knew exactly who that man was.

That man was Kaimu the Devil Eye. He was well known for being the most dangerous bandit and, on occasions, mercenary alive. That man was especially known for killing 10 ninja, where two of them at least, were jonin rank, single-handedly. And the most terrifying feat of his was his eye, which, if rumors were true, could allow him to bend reality. That man was the first, and the only, none-shinobi to be registered in the bingo books as an A-rank criminal, 'do not engage unless in groups'.

Kakashi saw Kaimu rush into him with his blade ready. This time, however, the jonin purposely avoided the attack slower, so the blade would remove his forehead protector. And he succeeded. Kakashi was now ready to hit his enemy, as he was incoming. The leaf-nin was about to stab his kunai into the enemy's face. But his attack missed. A lot! What's wrong? Kakashi wasn't that tired anymore. He could use his sharingan safely for a minute or two, which is why he wanted to finish this fight in one hit. How could he have missed that badly?

Then he was hit with the elbow in the face. And then kicked in the gut. And hit again, only this time in the chin, and send flying away. Kakashi landed on the floor and was too confused to even try to get up. Then his train of thoughts was interrupted.

"M' eye does not manipulate reality, leaf-nin. It bends perception." Kakashi was stupefied. That was the power of that eye? "Even if the eye contact is only for a milliseconds, it's still enough for the interfering impulses sent from m' eye to interfere with those in yer brain and make yer body react differently, due to the wrong perception yer given. After all, when fighting, perception is one of the most important things for a fighter. If it fails, the fighter looses his life."

Kaimu was getting closer and closer towards the silver-haired man. The second tried to get up, but quickly realized his moves were all wrong. Sloppy. That eye was messing with Kakashi's senses. He turned to face the pirate, only to see he was about to stab him. Oh, the irony. Sharingan granted enhanced perception, and now it was useless.

But before the blade even pierce through Kakashi's hair, a certain white haired woman kicked the pirate in the chin, sending him away from the leaf-nin. Kaimu was furious. No one dares to interrupt him.

"Chika?" the leaf-nin asked in disbelief. The young woman gave him a wide smile, which scared Kakashi, as it was similar to Naruto's.

"That's right, ninja-boy. Now just sit back. I have a score to settle with this guy." She said. Kakashi could hear confidence in her voice, as well as something else. Anger?

"So it's ye, girl. Fancy seein' ya 'ere, darlin'." Kaimu was already on his feet, ready to fight. "I'm gonna haff a helluva fun with ya. I think I may take ya for m' personal entertainment." Chika shivered at the sound of that. She? Entertain him? NO WAY IN HELL!

Kaimu lunched at her, aiming for her leg. Chika luckily noticed that and avoided the attack. When the Devil Eye was about to punch her, something blocked him. Kakashi couldn't believe it. She blocked his attack with her leg. Kaimu simply smirked.

"So, you're the famous Beautiful White Mermaid. This is now gettin' interesting."

Kakashi heard that name before. The Beautiful White Mermaid was the name of a captain, who, according to rumors, was the best of them all, as she was the only one never fail an assignment. The rumors even said she was a shinobi, working undercover to eliminate the most dangerous pirate organizations. The jonin knew the Beautiful White Mermaid was a woman, but he expected someone a bit older. Mean while, it was someone no older than tan him.

Before the leaf-nin two legends of these waters fought. It was amazing to see that Devil Eye's eye for some reason wasn't working, as both were perfectly blocking each other. Even though Kaimu was faster, Chika's agility easily evened the ground. Kakashi felt really small right now. He wished he was in top shape now, because this would be an embarrassment in his file.

Chika and Kaimu were trading blows and kicks, evading, blocking. They were analyzing each other, looking for openings, which weren't easy to find. Chika evened the fight even more when she picked up the wakizashi of one of the defeated pirates. Sparks were flying everywhere. It was something that was just beautiful. It looked like wonderful dance of blurs, sparks, white and green light. They seemed perfectly synchronized with other, which would make this fight a long lasting one.

Both captains backed away from each other after another trade of kicks. This was getting them nowhere. Kaimu's greatest question in this fight wasn't how to beat her, but rather why wasn't his eye effecting her. The eye contact was just unavoidable and yet.

"You can quit glaring at me with that eye of yours, Mr. Ugly. I'm simply immune to it effect." Chika said with a mocking tone.

"No. That's not it and you know it." He jumped at her again. And before she could counter it… An arrow pierced through her lap. She lost her focus, and when she tried to block Kaimu's slash, it was too high. He cut her on her belly. The pirate captain smiled widely. Now he understood her immunity.

"_Crown of Mother Earth_. Clever. But a jutsu used by a none-shinobi clan will always be worthless." Kaimu raised his blade, ready to deliver the final blow. "Farewell, girl of the Kappakiyoshi clan."

Before the blow was delivered, a kunai was near him. Even though it didn't actually kill the target, it did scratch Kaimu's chin. The pirate turned to face the leaf-jonin, who was going through another set of hand seals, this was bad, considering the silver-haired ninja didn't need the sharingan anymore. He simply didn't had to look in that eye. He focused his sight on the red jacket.

"Water Style: Water Bullet Missile!" And behind the jonin some of the sea water rose forming a small orb before his face, before finally lunching towards the perception-bender. Unluckily it missed, as the pirate ducked and rolled to his left. But when he stood up, he got a kick in the kisser from Chika. That kick was then followed by a punch in a gut, sending two meters away. The woman wanted to stab him with the wakizashi, but Kaimu managed to parry her attack and, without stopping his momentum, was about to decapitate her. Unfortunately, Kakashi stopped his blade with his kunai. And as he was about to kill the pirate, using the second kunai, he noticed that one horrifying thing. The two irises and pupils sharing the same eyeball.

'_Dammit! It's all false!' _the leaf-nin thought, stopping himself. Unfortunately, Kaimu delivered his punch. So he didn't use the eye's power? Before he could do anything, the Devil Eye punched Kakashi again. This time, in the gut. Then he kicked him in the face, straightening him up. And finally send the jonin away with a powerful kick in the gut. The ninja with the eye-expression of a sloth was flinching in pain after such a strong combo. Before he could stand up, he felt a cold blade touch his neck, catching Kakashi off guard completely. '_He sure is fast_.'

"I toldcha, Hatake. M' greatest advantage ain't speed or skill. It's pure experience. Ya think somebody like me would be so stupid as not to learn anything at all after havin' them facin' on shinobi very often? I've been practically fighting shinobi since I were 16. It's natural I would die or learn to fight 'em. And after all these them years of fightin' and doin' research on them, as well as equippin' properly, ya still thinkin' I'm just an ordinary thug? Now ya'll die!" Kaimu raised his blade with speed Kakashi would expect only from a shinobi. And it also came down fast.

However, it hit the floor. The pirate was annoyed. He looked to his right and saw the white-haired woman helping the jonin stand up. The two were determined. Kaimu couldn't fight them both. Suddenly something drew the attention of the three. The pirates' ships were exploding and sinking, while the boats were on the move again. What happened? Chika knew all too well.

Each of the boats had it's own engine, which was to be used only in case of the emergency. So once the attack began, those sailors who could run down to get the engine running. That way, the boat could escape the enemy at higher speed. Of course, the engine would be running only for about ten minutes, so it had to count. Also, there were hidden crossbow-like catapults just under the paddlers' seats, which were to shoot barrels with highly explosive substance. Thus the present situation.

"It's over, Devil Eye. Your crew has been defeated. Your ships are sinking. You're done for." Kakashi gave him a small overview of the situation. However…

"It ain't over just yet, Hatake." The pirate raised his blade to the eye level and set it horizontally. He closed his eyes. After a few seconds, the blade began to ignite with a weak, cold, green flame. Kakashi and Chika took their stance. Kaimu opened his eyes and now his left eye was glowing as well as the right one is. "Godzilla's great rage!" he roared, hitting the floor with the blade. And from the sea a large amount of water came, gathering over the pirate. Quickly, it formed a reptilian/amphibian creature with four, glowing-green eyes. Soon enough it lunched at his enemies. Both the Beautiful White Mermaid and the Copy-cat Ninja managed to evade the attack, but as it hit the floor, the attack only seemed to have split into multiple, although smaller, projectiles of the same appearance as the original. The leaf-jonin came to a conclusion that this jutsu was a mid-area type jutsu, and not a single-spot or small-area type. Hatake managed to avoid all of the missiles, while Chika kicked the last one aimed at her. As they collected themselves, they saw their opponent ready to jump into the sea.

"We will meet again, Hatake."

"Wait. How did you…?" the leaf-nin charged at the pirate and tried to stab him, but it was futile, as Kaimu blocked the attack with his sword. Kakashi took a good look at the weapon. It's blade dark green color, with some strange writing on it. Kakashi could only ready a few of these. Like rage, dragon, death, beast, sea, demon.

"I can't cast jutsu, Hatake. What you just saw 'ere was the power of Shini no Godzillatsuga." The pirate admitted, as he delivered a strong punch in Kakashi's face, sending him a few meters away. Quickly, he hid his nodachi and jumped into the water. Both the female captain and the jonin-sensei ran to find him, put Kaimu just vanished. Come to think of it, there wasn't even a splash.

It was already after sunset, and the boats were all ready to paddle again. Luck must've favored them. Out of twenty ships, only three were sunken. A third of their crew managed to survive the attack, and even some of their supplies were salvaged. Mainly the medicine. Lucky for Tazuna, what was saved of the bridge materials was still more than enough.

Kakashi was extremely proud of his students. Sasuke managed to beat 15 pirates, although he did get beaten up himself, but nothing too serious, and all that by himself. Sakura on the other hand, didn't freak out as her sensei though she would and was of great help for the sailors. Now he felt sorry for his third student. This attack could have been a chance for him to prove himself. He wondered how he was doing.

* * *

Moon was all the light they had, as their boats finally hit the shore. There sure was a lot of work now to smuggle all the supplies, but luckily there was enough man power to do it long before dawn. Tazuna couldn't help himself but cry when he realized his country was even closer to freedom from Gato's iron fist rule.

"Hey! Whatcha cryin' 'bout, you Old Drunk? We made it. Now you can finish that blasted bridge of yours." Chika scolded the bridge builder, giving him a strong clap on the shoulder and getting him off balance. She turned towards Kakashi with a sad expression "You ain't half bad, Sloth-face. I owe you one."

"I must say, the pleasure was all mine, Chika. I really am impressed that someone from the clan of Shinto priests is a good captain."

"Me? A priestess? Oh please. I merely learned that jutsu simply because of our grandma. She said it's better to have some defense." She frowned at the memory of that. "If I were a priestess, I wouldn't be one of those who can have a normal family live. I don't want my babies to be burdened with sacred responsibilities."

"So you're looking forward to have a family, huh?"

"Don't flatter yourself. If you wanna have any chance, first get rid of that perverted book." Kakashi was both disappointed and shocked. For one, that girl rejected him for something like that. Two- how did she know he had that book? He didn't pull it out since they reached them.

"Still…" she continued, "If you'll need me in the future, you know where to find me. Who knows, I might consider working with your village."

After a few more minutes, Team 7 and Tazuna said farewell to the female captain and departed. They wanted to reach Tazuna's hut and get a well deserved rest. After all, they earned it.

* * *

**Meanwhile. Tazuna's hut.**

Naruto was in his futon, wondering about the events of the day. It wasn't really all that exiting, and yet he had such luck.

Flashback.

_Naruto stood before the ruined temple. It wasn't actually some ancient and destroyed by time and elements. But still it wasn't something marvelous. __The plants have grown so wildly they covered the wall and roof. There were even some hole on the windows and walls. The statues themselves couldn't be recognized._

_The blond entered the temple. Carefully. The inside was filled with dust and web, but it still looked better than the outside. And the statues were recognizable. _

_Yet strange. So alien._

_At first, Naruto expected the statues to represent the priests or, better yet, gods. But what he saw were no statues of the either. On one side, these statues represented some humanoids with lion-like features and horns. Were these…Ogres? On the other, they represented some kind of warriors. Was this some kind of temple in honor to heroes?_

_The young Uzumaki finally reached some kind of stairs and as he went down, he saw a new set of statues. Some represented animals, others humans, demons and, finally, the gods. All these statues down along the hall._

_As he reached the end of the hall, he a big doors. Naruto slowly opened them. It was hard at first, as he didn't want to damage them. But he struggled harder to open them, they still refused to open._

_That's it. The kid no longer cared if he'd damage them. He gathered all his strength and after a few seconds, there was a sound indicating the doors were about to open. Naruto tried to push harder, but he couldn't gather more strength than he had._

_Finally. The doors have opened. Naruto caught his breath and took one of the torches off the wall. Inside the room he found a strange set of statues. One was representing a warrior fighting a demon with multiple tails. Naruto for some reason couldn't stop watching it, until he noticed a tablet at the statue's base._

_It read: 'For glory of the man who defeated the King Demon, ended the Great Exile and became god on his death bed. In honor of he, who created the world of mortals.' Naruto didn't quite get it. Come to think of it, he never was good with history. Wait. Was this even a historical event?_

_He past onto another statues, which represented a god, a demon and a human. The tablet to this one said: 'Three kingdoms. Three races. Three strengths. Morality of humans. Power of gods. Vitality of demons.' For some reason, it sounded cool for Naruto._

_The final statue was different of them all. It represented a shapeless and faceless humanoid with tails. In his hands there was a box. Naruto wondered what it was. The Tablet merely said 'The power worthy only'. What does that mean? Power worthy only? Naruto kept thinking and thinking. After about five minutes, it hit him. It's for the one worthy of power. But was he worthy of this power? The blonde struggled, as he didn't know what would happen. If this box held something so important, how did he know it wasn't secured? On the other hand, judging by the state of this place, it could be broken._

'_Open the box'_

_Naruto flinched at first. As he turned, there was no one to see. Was it just his imagination?_

_But fine. It could be something worth a burn. Naruto reached for the box and opened it. Inside, he found a scroll. Strangely, it looked like it wasn't touched by time at all. He took the scroll from the box, but when he wanted to open it, he couldn't. Why then he noticed a seal on it. And on that seal was something written. It said 'Only by the liquid of all life, will all secrets be revealed'. Great. Another riddle. The blonde was however too tired to think about it. But this scroll could prove useful. So he hid it in pouch and left._

Flashback end

Naruto was hoping for some action in the close future. He wanted to train. He even thought about telling Kakashi-sensei about his discovery, but after that stunt the jonin pulled, maybe it's better not to tell him.

"Whatever! I'm goin' ta sleep!" He yelled, wrapping the sheet around himself.

**Omake**

Naruto packed the scroll into his pouch. Now he was ready to leave. Before he did however, he took another look at the statues. Okay, now he was ready.

As he reached the stairs, he heard some strange sound. Like a blowing wind, which sounded like words? The blonde ignored it at first. It was most likely his imagination. But then there it was again. Naruto felt chills running up his spine. He slowly turned around, as he felt a cold touch. And saw a ghost.

"Booooooooo!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Naruto yelled frightened, as he ran away to the exit. The ghost was laughing. But unknown to Naruto, that was actually Inari in white sheets.

"What a coward! Ha ha!" The kid kept laughing. He was laughing so hard, he had to support himself. "Hey, Mr. ghost. Can you believe it. That idiot is afraid of ghosts! What a coward! Ha haha!" Inari kept laughing. But soon he realized something. He took a good look… "AAAAAHHHHH! Ghost! MOOOOOOOMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYY!" Inari ran out as fast as he could, leaving behind a trial of pee and tears.

"What? I don't smell or look THAT bad, do I?" The ghost was absolutely confused.

**Omake end**

Bio:

Name: Chika, AKA: Beautiful White Mermaid

Age: 24

Height: 164

Affiliation: Wave (probable), none specific

Rank: Captain

Stats: ?

Special skills: Exceptional navigator, high agility, leadership, possible Shinto training

* * *

Name: Kaimu AKA: Devil Eye Kaimu

Age: 32

Height: 179

Affiliation: possibly Pirates of Wave, uknown

Rank: Captain (?)

Stats: ?

Special skills: High speed, experienced in fighting shinobi, Shini no Godzillatsuga, unknown dojutsu allowing to manipulate other's perception, master swordsman

* * *

A/N. Well? Did you like it or didn't you? I know you did. See ya next time. Who knows? Maybe we'll get to see Zabuza now? …..Nah!


	9. Chapter 8 Wave mission part 5

Charter 8

Mission to Wave- part 5- The Bridge to the future- part 1

Sasuke was getting irritated. How could that idiot disappear just like that? His been searching for his teammate for about two hours now and still, he couldn't find him. But what happened? What's this ruckus about?

* * *

Flashback.

_It was three days since that fight with the pirates. __Tazuna and Team 7, except for Naruto of course, told everything about their adventure on the sea after their return. Although the jonin-sensei hid from them the details about Kaimu the Devil Eye, not wanting them to know about this man just yet. Naruto was mad hearing they had such a cool adventure and that Sasuke had fought and defeated a group of pirates. Now he felt as if Kakashi-sensei didn't want him to prove himself at all. Even Sakura claimed that he would be of no help at all. That comment was a little too much for the blonde to stand. So he left, steaming in anger._

"_You know, Sakura, you went too far with that comment." Kakashi told her, in the way suggesting he was about to lecture her._

"_But, sensei, all Naruto ever does is show off. There's no way he'd be useful back then." Sakura tried to excuse her actions._

"_You ninjas always show off." Inari accused them. "So what does it matter what he does." Sakura was about to tell the difference between Naruto's ninja skills, or rather lack of them, and Sasuke's skills. But Kakashi was faster to respond._

"_That's because Naruto's alone." With that simple start, the jonin caught everyone's attention. "Naruto never grew to know his parents. And no one even wanted to adopt him. He's being treated like a plague. Ignored. Refused acknowledgement of existence. The matron of the orphanage even through him out after she tried to kill him (However, no evidence could be found against her). Even in the academy, no one took interest to help him in his training. There are of course those in the village who try to help him, but sometimes even a clan is not enough. So Naruto wants simply to prove his worth something. Worthy of acknowledging." Inari's ever angry face incredibly softened after hearing Naruto's story. He that he had it rough, but the blonde idiot… Tsunami quickly grabbed him and, in her tears, hugged him with all her might, as if to ensure him, he doesn't have to go through the same._

_Sakura didn't seem touched that much. She knew the blonde was an orphan, but in her opinion that was only his excuse for everything. She was sorry for his misfortune, of course, but didn't have that much empathy for him since, unlike Sasuke, he was annoying._

_Sasuke however was different. On the outside he seemed untouched, but, truth be told, he had a conflict of emotions on the inside. To be blunt, he NEVER knew that Naruto had it that rough. He was a witness to his mistreat several times, everyone from his class was, but he always assumed it was because of some prank the blond did beforehand. Now that he heard about Naruto's past, Sasuke felt like the dirt. He was no better than the rest of the village, who kept belittling the blonde. That made the Uchiha boy so mad, he decided to run and find him._

_And so, he did._

_Sakura and Kakashi weren't going to stay behind. Soon, they too ran out to find their comrade._

Flashback end.

* * *

The young brunette jumped off the tree and took a look around again. There was no sign of Naruto anywhere. Definitely the blonde didn't want to be found. However, considering the prankster was still a dead-last in the academy, it was only a matter of time before they find him. Wasn't it?

"Oh, Sasuke!" The boy turned around to the person who called to him. It was his pink-haired teammate. "What are you doing out here all by yourself? It would be better for us both to look together." She advised, taking him by his hand and pulling. But to her surprise, he pulled his hand out of hers and glared at her.

"You have no shame, do you? Our teammate is gone. He may be in trouble. And all you think about is this?" Sasuke growled through his teeth. Sakura was confused.

"Sasuke? Why are you mad?"

"DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME!" he roared. "I can't believe you. First you humiliate your own teammate and now, instead of looking for him, you're trying to flirt with me. I can't believe you're this COLD!" he pushed her aside and continued forward. The kunoichi couldn't believe her ears. Was she really that bad as a person?

* * *

Naruto was sitting on a rock, all sad. He could hear his teammates further away looking for him. But he didn't want to be found. No, not yet. He was still mad.

How could Sakura say something like that? Him… useless? He wasn't even given a chance. So on what basis she deemed him of no help? The thought made him so mad, he didn't even notice when he punched his fist print in a tree. When he realized it, he was troubled. What if his team heard the punch? No, there is no way that punch could be loud enough. But why take the risk? Maybe they did hear. The blond decided to make a run for it. He WANTED to be alone.

After a few minutes of running, Naruto decided to rest. He needed it. He was looking around. He needed a place where he would be safe from wild animals and his teammates. A few seconds later, he found something. A strange tree. What was so strange about it? Well, it had something familiar to a cave at about half its height. The blonde decided to check it. It was a good thing he could walk on tree, for that tree was ridiculously high. After climbing about 7 meters, Naruto finally reached it. Now he analyzed it. After deeming his hideout good, he entered and relaxed. He wanted to be alone so badly. Naruto masked his hide out with a camouflage blanket and within a few minutes fell asleep.

* * *

_H__e looked around. He couldn't believe it. He was back in Konoha, but something was off. The Hokage monument seemed to have more heads crafted into it than usually. However he couldn't tell whose head was it, since it was behind the smoke. That was the second thing. The whole village was burning. Buildings running down and several buildings collapsed. People, mostly the shinobi, were badly injured, but instead of running away, they were standing in place, looking up in the sky. The blond could understand why they weren't running away._

"_Now this world shall know pain!" came the words, which sounded to Naruto godly. When he looked up, he saw a figure levitating high above the village. The person before the sun was rising his arms, as if trying to grab the sun it self. Suddenly he dropped his arms. "Divine Repulsion!"_

_Naruto couldn't believe it. He felt an enormous pressure pressing him to the ground. He shut his eyes in pain. When he opened them, the blond found himself in the sky, free from the pain and gravity itself. Naruto turned around and saw the village below, blown away or crushed. It was impossible to describe. There was now just a big crater, covered by the cloud of dust, which was now swirling and blowing towards the center. The kid blinked a few times, believing he was seeing things, but there, right there, in the center of the crater, the dust created some form of a ring, as the surrounded spot turned pitch black. If that wasn't scary enough, the next thing certainly gave him the goose bumps. There he saw the sharingan. But somehow different. Much darker, in both the color and appearance. As Naruto looked deeper into it, the more evil he saw within it. It was making him sick. The eye seemed to be closing, when the boy found himself back on solid ground, as from the spot, where the eye was, a figure flew out. Naruto recognized it as the one from his previous dream. The same silhouette with wings and "sharingan". The blond looked around and noticed to be in the familiar place._

"_This is the end for you." The words were all too well known to the kid. Only this time, Naruto could see clearer the other figure. It was a tall and muscular man with long, straight hair, apparently wearing a horned helmet. The 'horned man' dodged the attack of the 'winged man' and delivered a powerful kick to his gut, sending away, into a tree. The young one could feel the power himself. Being in the presence of this warrior felt… divine. Naruto believed himself to be a little ant compared this man._

_When the horned man turned to face the blond, his eyes were blood red with slit irises. Naruto could see pure hate in them. When he blinked, he saw the warrior turned into the blonde's look-a-like, with the exception of the eyes, which remained the same. The fox- container shivered seeing the psychopathic grin on the double's face. His fear grew double the size, when the double's clawed hands wrapped around the blonde's neck, choking him with ease._

"_You couldn't stop him from leaving!" the Naruto Double yelled at him with much venom and hatred in his voice, that the prankster genin forgot how to breathe in terror. "You couldn't save her! Every single worm in that village HATES YOU! WHY DON'T YOU JUST…?"

* * *

_

Naruto woke up, screaming in agony, while holding his side, as if someone stabbed him there with a sword. He even coughed some blood. All sweaty and aching, the boy suddenly realized his senses going haywire. He was not alone. As fast as he could, he pulled out a kunai and stood up. He looked around, but couldn't find anyone. But the boy knew someone was around. Unless it was just his imagination. No, it couldn't be. Sensing someone in the area was definitely something he could do right. And yet there was no one to be seen.

The boy stopped wondering about it as he looked outside and found he was out for about three hours. Now it was time for him to go back. He finally felt better. But as he disappeared between the trees, another figure came out from behind that tree, where the blonde slept. The figure scolded the mental self for failure.

Naruto was running like mad. He was certain Kakashi would be mad for his childish act. Well, let's face it. It wouldn't be the first time. The blond remembered all too well all the times his sensei complained about his loud mouth. There was this particular time, namely catching the daimyo's wife's cat the second time, when the mission lasted until evening, because Naruto kept yelling. The mission would've been prolonged, if Kakashi hadn't gagged him. Oh, the kid hoped the jonin wouldn't do something similar right now.

The blond stopped. Something caught his attention. Some strange smell. He followed it and found something that sickened him.

* * *

Later, at Tazuna's house.

Everything seemed to be alright, though the fog limited the sight. Still, there was no sign of fighting. No blood, no cloth shreds, no shurikens, no sign of jutsu. But when the blond came closer, the doors were barged. No way. Who would have…? Naruto entered the house and saw some drops of blood on the floor. Somebody was hurt. Quickly he realized somebody was still in the house. Someone was crying. The prankster went inside and took a look around. The source of sobbing was in the kitchen. There Naruto found Inari. The kid was alright… aside from some bruises and a small nose bleed.

"Inari? Are ya alright? Wha' happened 'ere?" the blond asked. Inari sobbed for a few more seconds, before he actually registered Naruto's present. The nine-year-old lifted his head to face the genin, revealing his face covered with a few bruises, tears and snots. Naruto was disgusted by the kid's appearance, but the sight of bruises got the bigger attention. Finally, Inari spoke.

"The… *sob* they came… here *sob* and… *sniff*… took mommy away." Naruto grew furious. He had a pretty good idea who planned all this. How could Gato do something like this? Naruto ran out of the house, taking Inari with him. Luckily, the boy heard the thugs say where they were taking Tsunami to.

* * *

With Team 7 and Tazuna, a few minutes earlier.

Being tired of searching for their blond teammate, Team 7 decided to continue their mission. To be blunt, Sasuke, surprisingly, didn't like the idea of leaving Naruto. He wanted to find him first. But Kakashi assured him that the hyperactive genin was quite capable of handling himself. Besides, they couldn't afford to just abandon their responsibilities just because of one, angry boy. Of course, Sakura kept saying that Naruto was to blame for acting so childish, though deep down inside, she was concerned about him. For now at least. And Tazuna was more concerned about the bridge. Everyday the bridge builder would be worried about it. He feared that Gato's men would come and destroy it. That was their only hope for freedom. For better life. Luckily, the bridge would always be still their, with people already continuing their job in order to have it completed as soon as possible. However, ever since the Leaf-nins arrived, the workers' spirits seemed to rise. The jonin sensei figured, that they must have felt save with them to protect. The works were at the better progress than normally. Tazuna calculated that at this rate, the bridge would be ready within a week.

"Well, I'm happy to hear that, mate. Of course it could of have been better if you were to finish it in half the time." Kakashi said, causing the old builder to chuckle.

"Not to worry, Kakashi. We might get lucky and finish the bridge in six days."

The works went on, until something disturbing was sensed by the one-eyed ninja. Soon enough, everyone on the bridge felt it. The cold feeling in the air, and it wasn't a breeze. And before anyone knew what to make of it, a mist began to appear.

* * *

Meanwhile, the warehouse somewhere in the forest.

The place was a mess, literally. Holes in the walls, half the roof missing, and rats everywhere, clear signs of salvaging, fire and flooding. The place smelled with dead bodies of animals. Maybe that's what made Tsunami wake up. The foul smell of decaying flesh. The woman looked around once again in hope to find some way to escape. There were many of them, but unfortunately she was tied in ropes and hanging from the catwalk. Her watchers, two of Gato's thugs, were playing cards just to kill some time. She felt disgusted with the fact the was the policy to make Tazuna surrender himself to the local kingpin.

The thugs meanwhile were killing time. They would look at Tsunami from time to time, though it wasn't like she would be able to escape. They were mostly thinking about entertaining themselves with her. Each would even show her a perverted grin to her. Soon enough, one of them, the one with an eye-patch, stood up and walked over to her. He pulled out his katana and was ready to have his fun with her. Tsunami just kicked him in the face, which made the man mad, while his partner, who looked more like a teenager, was laughing. The one-eyed was about to stab the woman's feet to teach her a lesson.

He stabbed… a log?

The two men looked around, and they found the woman, still tied, in the hands of a blond kid with whisker-like birthmarks on his cheeks. Naruto was glaring at them. But the thugs didn't even flinch. Instead, they charged at him, ready to slice him into pieces. But before they could get close enough, the one with the eye-patch got hit with wagon. But to the surprise of the younger man, the rusty wagon was thrown, not pushed, into his partner, who was now unconscious. The teenage-looking man looked in the direction from which the attack came, only to get hit with the frying pan from behind. Before he could turn around, a whip of pure light wrapped around his torso and shocking him, ultimately paralyzing him. Naruto dispelled his clone and untied Tsunami, while Inari, dropping the pan, ran over and hug her.

"Mommy!" he cried, "You're alright!"

"Yes. Yes I am." Tsunami replied, returning the hug. After a few seconds, Inari turned to Naruto, Already tied the thugs with a chain.

"Thanks, Naruto! Thanks for saving my mom!"

"Now ya see, Inari" Naruto turned to face the kid, pointing the lump Inari made on the thug. "This is wha' courage is 'bout. Withstanding the obstacles no matta wha' the odds are." Inari was astonished. He did act brave. He DID what he called foolish. Seeing the blond smiling to him, the boy smiled back crying.

"I'm sorry. I was a cowardly jerk to say all these things to you. I…" he never got to finish, as Naruto ruffled his brown hair.

"Quit complainin' already, brat. I was no better then ya 'til not so longuyago." The blond kept smiling. Inari for some unknown reason felt warm inside. It wasn't the same as with a father. It was different, but still pleasant. As if he stood in the presence of an older brother. Could it be?

"Well anyways," Naruto took off to the exit. "I gotta get ta the bridge or the team kills me! Inari! Watch yer mom, alright?" Inari nodded, just before the blond disappeared.

* * *

The bridge construction side.

The mist kept getting thicker and thicker. The workers began to panic. What was going on? Where did the mist come from? Only four people actually knew, or at least suspected, what was going on. And it wasn't good. Before anyone could say anything, the workers fell unconscious, as if hypnotized. The Leaf-nins knew it had to be it- genjutsu. After a few more minutes of silence, broke only by the sound of the sea beneath the bridge and some seagulls, the mist slowly began to disappear, revealing a well know figure, who this time was wearing a black, sleeveless shirt.

"Hello, Monkey. Ready for round 2?" the figure chuckled darkly. Kakashi on the other hand seemed surprise, despite knowing the truth. He whispered, as if trying to comprehend the reality.

"Zabuza."

"The one and only." The master of silent killing said, radiating the killing intent on the group. Then he ran through the sequence of hand seals. "Water style: Water Dragon Missile!" he roared. And soon, a large dragon made of water appeared above him and shot towards the bridge builder and Team 7. Luckily, the jutsu missed. Sasuke however jumped at him and cut his head off. Zabuza turned into water.

"Water clone is hardly a challenge to me." the young Uchiha said with the smirk, causing the pink haired kunoichi to have heart-shaped eyes.

"Wow, Sasuke! You were so cool!" she said.

"That's interesting." A new voice spoke. From behind Zabuza came out the person the silver-haired jonin recognized as the hunter-nin who took Zabuza on that day. "So you managed to defeat a water clone. Not bad, considering its strength is merely 10% the original's power. But sadly, that's as far as you go." The masked one said, causing Sasuke to get annoyed.

"Hey! DON'T YOU DARE TALK LIKE THAT ABOUT SASUKE! HE CAN EASILY KICK YOUR ASS ANYTIME AND ANYWHERE!" Sakura yelled out, getting not response of any kind from the fake hunter-nin.

"Sakura. Shut up about how great Sasuke is." Kakashi said to Sakura with stern voice. "We don't even know how strong this new player is. From what we know, he might be Sasuke's equal, or even superior." Sasuke flinched at the sound of that. But surprisingly, this statement made Zabuza laugh. He was laughing as if told a good joke.

"His EQUAL?" the swordsman asked, "Ha! Good joke, Monkey. But Haku is far stronger than this little student of yours in every single way."

"Is that so, mate? Than you obviously know not of whom this kid is. His name is Uchiha Sasuke, the last of the Uchiha clan, the most elite shinobi clan in Konoha."

Zabuza's eyes were now wide open. He heard about the Uchiha clan being slaughtered five years ago. He didn't know the details, but he always believed that ALL the Uchihas were killed back then. Seeing the last one of his clan before him was like seeing a marvel jewel for the silent kill master.

However, his look of sheer surprise faded, as the look of interest showed up.

"Really now?" he asked. "Then it's a good change to test out the Uchiha blood." He turned to his partner. "Haku! The Uchiha brat is all yours. Have fun with him… and kill him!"

Everyone just flinched at this. Haku on the other hand jumped at Sasuke, pulling out his senbons. The Last Uchiha looked at his sensei, to which Kakashi commented.

"His all yours mate." Kakashi eye-smiled. Sasuke jumped at his opponent, drawing his kunai.

Clash.

The two boys were struggling for dominance. Sakura wanted to interfere, but she knew better than to leave Tazuna unprotected. The two were exchanging blows, making sparks fly with every hit. Kakashi and Zabuza were watching them cautiously, ready to move when needed. Finally, Sasuke saw an opening and attacked, only to be blocked.

"You are foolish to attack someone stronger than you. Give up before I kill you." Haku said in his emotionless manner, making Sasuke smirk.

"Oh and why would I?"

"Because I have two advantageous. First: we are surrounded by water. Two: you have one hand occupied and only one free. Thus, you can't make any seals, leaving you with no way to defend yourself." Haku raised his free hand and ran through the sequence of hand seals, surprising the Leaf-jonin.

'What? One-hand seals? I have never seen anything like that. Come to think of it, I never though it's possible.' Hatake thought, seeing as the water around the two boys began to act weird when Haku finished the sequence.

"Ice Style: Thousand Death Needles!"

To be continued…

* * *

Omake

The Third Hokage was finally finishing the paper work. After that, he was going to walk around Konoha and watch the new generation's everyday lives, eat some takoyaki, light a pipe and smoke and relax. Something he didn't had time for in hours.

Finally, there, before his, was the last document to sign. A deal about new goods that someone wanted to sale in the village, but needed the village head's permission. As the aged man was about to sign it, turning seconds into minute, he heard a loud crack. He looked up to see the jonin, who, unfortunately, never opens the doors the way they're made for.

Nekokage Kuromaru.

"Greetings, old chief." He greeted the village kage lazily.

"Kuromaru! How many times do I have to tell you to knock and OPEN the doors?" Sarutobi yelled his question out, making the bold guy raise an eyebrow.

"Why bother with something as impractical as opening a door?" he asked, making the hokage sweat drop.

"Any way, why are you here?"

"Something happened. Argent in fact." The bulky man replied, pulling out a paper sheet from his vest. "I need this signed."

"What is it?" Third asked, seeing some seriousness on Kuromaru's face.

"Something terrible. It concerns my students. So I need these forms signed quickly. IT'S A MATTER OF LIVE AND DEATH!" he yelled out the last sentence opening his mouth ridiculously wider then his jaw should.

Sarutobi wasted no time and signed the paper. Kuromaru quickly took the sheet, bowed and turned towards the doors. But…

"Kuromaru!" The man with feline features stopped just upon entering the hallway. "May I ask what exactly happened to your students? Did they get hurt? Or have they been accused of breaking something?"

Kuromaru turned his gaze to the kage, looking all serious. Quickly, he gave a sheepish smile and began scratching the back of his head, while chuckling nervously. "Actually, Anko and Ryu ate so much dango and sushi, on my treat that I would need to be on the S-ranked assignments everyday for a month to pay the bill. What you just signed is your agreement to pay the bill for me. Thank you!" And left.

…

…

…

…

…

…

*WHAM*

Third Hokage hit his head against the desk in all frustration. He fell for something so stupid. Now he wanted to sign that last document to have a word with Team 12.

As he has just signed the document, and began to reach for his pipe, a new column of documents appeared before him. What the…? He looked behind the column to find his secretary.

"Oh lord Hokage, you're still hear? Good, because I have new documents for you that you need to sign immediately. All priority!" She said, as two other girls, most likely her assistants, carried in the next documents. Sarutobi sweat dropped at this. There goes his relaxation.

Omake end

* * *

A/N. Finally a new chapter. Sorry it took so long, but I lost some will to it for a moment. Plus, I wanted Naruto to sound more original, but have some trouble to learn about the accents. Anyway, hope you're still liking this.


	10. Chapter 9 Wave mission part 6

**Previously on Storm God Naruto…**

"_You are foolish to attack someone stronger than you. Give up before I kill you." Haku said in his emotionless manner, making Sasuke smirk._

"_Oh and why would I?"_

"_Because I have two advantages. First: we are surrounded by water. Two: you have one hand occupied and only one free. Thus, you can't make any seals, leaving you with no way to defend yourself." Haku raised his free hand and ran through the sequence of hand seals, surprising the Leaf-jonin._

'_What? One-hand seals? I have never seen anything like that. Come to think of it, I never though it's possible.' Hatake thought, seeing as the water around the two boys began to act weird when Haku finished the sequence._

"_Ice Style: Thousand Death Needles!__"

* * *

_

**Chapter 9**

**Mission to Wave- part 6- The Bridge to the future- part 2**

"Ice Style: Thousand Death Needles!" Haku called out the jutsu. The water shot up and suddenly changed into countless needles of water, which later froze. Sasuke found himself surrounded with ice senbons, which were hovering in thin air, before they launched at the young Uchiha. Within a second, the fake hunter-nin disappeared, while the jutsu hit the other boy, making him look like cactus. Luckily, instead of Sasuke, there was a barrel. Kakashi eye-smile seeing that.

"Jolly good, Sasuke. Just keep up the good job." The Leaf-jonin's satisfaction of his student's success quickly ended when he heard the enemy swordsman snickering.

"Good job, eh? Ya gotta be kidding me, Monkey." Zabuza said, pointing at Sasuke. "Look at him. Even now he's trembling in fear." It was. The last of the Uchiha clan was shaking. Shivering actually. Kakashi could see it clearly. He wanted to say something, but his student beat him, with a smile on his face.

"Oh I'm trembling all right. With excitement!" he stated, ready to launch. Zabuza smirked at the boy's reply and reached for his blade.

Before Sasuke even blinked, the swordsman was already before him with his blade at the preteen's throat. After a few seconds, the Uchiha felt as if he was decapitated. He blinked again and noticed Zabuza back in the original position, but resting the blade on his shoulder. When he reached for his neck, there wasn't even a scratch.

"Ya see kid?" Zabuza asked mockingly. "Just be cause you're from some fancy clan, doesn't mean anything when you're fighting someone as superior to you in skill, power and experience as I am. So you can act tough all ya want, but you could easily die by my own hands if you were to face me." There was no lie in his words. What worse, Sasuke, no matter how much he didn't want to admit it, knew the killer was right. The power gap was too big.

"Fear not mates. I'm having Zabuza for my self." Kakashi said. He was about to continue, when Sakura, with a big vein on her head, screeched.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI! WILL YOU, PLEASE, STOP WITH THE 'MATE' STUFF? IT'S ANNOYING! WHAT'S IT MEAN ANYWAY?"

"She's right, Kakashi!" Tazuna joined her, whole red and fuming, "We're in the middle of the fight and you're talking like an annoying idiot!" Kakashi gave them a painful look.

"You really mean it?" He asked. After he received a nod from everyone, including Zabuza and his partner, he made a serious face. "Alright then. No more stupid 'mate' talk. Anyway… Zabuza, I'm afraid I can't let you have the boy. If you even try to hurt him, I will kill you in the instant." Kakashi threatened, revealing his sharingan, which, in the fog, seemed to glow brighter. He was now releasing an enormous killer intent, which seemed to make all the youngsters and the elder man shiver for a few seconds.

But Zabuza merely smirked.

"Is that right? Haku! Continue on! Have the Uchiha know how much the name really means against power!"

"As you wish, Zabuza." The ice user answered and dashed towards his opponent. The two began to exchange blows and slashes again. Everyone who saw the fight of the two was at awe, seeing this. Sparks flying, blurs dashing. Finally, the two were struggling again.

"Humph. You can't win." Sasuke mocked, pointing at the cut on the ice user's robe. "You don't have the speed to beat me and your attack pattern is too easy to read."

"You're right. But you on the other hand…" Haku finished the final hand seal. But it was too late for Sasuke to notice, as the water around the two formed a dome. It looked like a waterfall, only going upwards. "…fell into my trap. Ice Style: Demonic Ice Mirrors!" The water began slowly to freeze, forming about 17 mirrors **(A/N. I think that's how much there was.) **Sasuke was at awe, shock, fear and anger seeing his opponent's jutsu. Now, in the place of the water dome there a dome made of mirrors… ice mirrors to be exact. But not only that, the young 'hunter-nin' entered one of the mirrors as if it was water, and disappeared within it. A second later, his face could be seen on every mirror. The Uchiha flinched as he couldn't tell which one was the real one. Technically, he was surrounded by the enemy. If he was to strike one mirror, he risked exposing his back to the real one. His only choice was to get outside. There Sasuke would be saver if not absolutely save. Yes, that was the best plan.

He made a run for as fast as he could. He even used what he learned about chakra control to boost his speed. He was running for the space between the mirrors. He was going to make it.

Or so he thought.

Sasuke felt hit with something and flew back into the centre of the dome. He struggled to get up and when he did, he found some senbons in his shoulder. But how…? When did the guy manage to land a hit?

"I can not allow you to leave my dome." Haku spoke, appearing once again in all the mirrors. "I hold no grudge against you, but I will what I must if you don't give up."

Kakashi was about to interfere and help Sasuke. His opponent was definitely way above his level. He ran, but before he could beat half the distance, his senses warned him. Hatake jumped back just in time before the master of silent assassination could cut him in half. Zabuza was laughing.

"Now, now, Monkey. We can't let you interfere with their fight." Zabuza spoke in a polite manner while slightly looking back at the dome of hovering ice mirrors.

"Zabuza! I have no time for your games!" Kakashi said while releasing some killer intent. "Move aside!"

Surprisingly, Zabuza just exploded with laughter.

"Do you truly think I'm just gonna step aside? Not fat chance." He raised his sword and pointed it at the Leaf jonin. "Now choose, Monkey. You go help your student, but leave the bridge builder exposed or protect him and let your student die."

Kakashi glared at the swordsman. He gave him a hard time. What should he do? He could use a clone, but the only clone jutsu good enough to hold him off would cut his chakra reserves by half and Kakashi still needed to be certain he could take him on. After all, Zabuza wasn't an idiot. He most likely had his partner ready to assist if necessary.

If only Kakashi could now turn around, he would find another Zabuza, ready to decapitate him on the spot. Sakura and Tazuna could've sworn time suddenly slowed down.

"Kakashi/ Kakashi-sensei!" both screamed. Kakashi heard them in time to see a blade coming close to his neck. He knew he wouldn't manage to doge it.

This was it.

Zabuza smiled at his victory.

*stab*

The blade dissolved into water before it could do any harm to the silver-haired ninja. Zabuza widened his eyes seeing this. But then his set his blade against his back and three seconds later everyone could hear and see three shurikens hit against it. Then, the swordsman swung his sword over his head lazily and deflected another wave of projectiles. Finally, he sidestepped as a blur came down and made some cracks in the concrete bridge floor while hitting it. Zabuza kicked what happened to be Kakashi's third student, Naruto, only to find out it was a shadow clone. The real Naruto meanwhile landed between Sakura and the jonin-sensei. Everyone could see him removing his forehead protector from his mouth and hear him growling.

"Dammit! I was sure I was quiet enough." The blond growled. Zabuza scoffed.

"The plan was good. But you were too slow. Did you really think you can get me like this? I'm a jonin, brat. There's no way a genin can defeat me." Zabuza laughed. But then he noticed Naruto pointing at his feet. The master of assassination techniques curiously looked down and noticed that the shurikens that came last had an exploding tag. Looking up, he showed an annoyed look on his face while saying in a bored manner: "Crud."

*ka-boom*

Luckily, Zabuza was fast enough and got away from the blast unharmed. Naruto was annoyed he missed, but still glad he played the jonin for a fool again. The pink-haired kunoichi was thinking how glad she was Kakashi didn't die, while Tazuna thought the kid was amazing. But Kakashi had a more analytical thought.

'_What an idiot_.' He thought '_Did he really think he could beat someone of Zabuza's caliber? It was obvious that, if the clone got hit from behind, the attack to the original would also come from behind. That kid is so simple minded. Still, even I didn't expect him to use an explosive tag with the last wave. And I got to say, its good thing he finally took to heart what I told him about his big mouth._' Kakashi was actually proud the kid considered gagging himself to keep quiet. But still…

"Naruto! Don't just stand there showing off!" Kakashi half yelled, catching the blonde's attention. "Go and help Sasuke! If you really wish to prove yourself to be a great ninja, then show you can actually put your skills to proper use!"

Naruto was caught off guard. Kakashi finally has given him a change to prove himself. The blond nodded and dashed towards the mirror dome. Zabuza saw this and charged at the blonde, but was intercepted by the copy ninja.

"Sorry, Zabuza. But your fight is with me."

"You're sorry, eh? No matter, Monkey. I just wanted to pay the blond back for humiliating me for the second time." Zabuza finally pushed Kakashi away, scratching him in the shoulder, and jumped away himself. "But no matter. Even partnered with the Uchiha he can't beat Haku."

"My, aren't you confident." Kakashi stared at the swordsman suspiciously, wondering what made him so confident of his teenaged partner.

"It can't be helped. After all, Haku's abilities are the result of kekkei genkai." Zabuza watched, as Kakashi's eyes widened in horror. If anything, he didn't expect this kind of opponent. "Right now the boy is superior to me. It's only his loyalty that keeps him alive."

Kakashi glared at him. "You mean to tell me, you find him as a tool to be disposed of when his usefulness passes?"

"Indeed. But enough of that." The 'Demon of the Mist' made a familiar hand seal. "Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

The mist around began to grow thick again. Very thick this time. No one could see anything beyond a food reach.

"Zabuza! You're not making this easy on yourself!" Kakashi stated.

"You're forgetting I'm the master of silent killing. I don't need eyes. Plus, with this, your little sharingan won't be able to catch me." Kakashi could hear Zabuza, but couldn't tell where he was. In addition, he was right. Apparently, his sidekick was watching their first fight and studied Kakashi's eye carefully. Now, Zabuza knew that the sharingan couldn't see the future, but hypnotize an opponent, read his moves and chakra and copy their jutsus. In other words, with the mist around, he couldn't play Zabuza into his mind game.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sasuke used a fire jutsu, trying to melt the ice, but it proved futile.

"You can not hope to melt my ice. It stays the way it is because of my chakra, not the temperature." Haku explained, making Sasuke glare. The young brunette was all bruised, looked like a pincushion, and was mad. He looked again between the mirrors and noticed a mass of blond hair standing on the other side. Sasuke realized it was his teammate, but wasn't sure if it was safe to give away his presence. What if the ice user had a safeguard on the outside? He ran in random direction. He knew Naruto was extremely perceptive, despite his stupidity, and would know at least not to enter the dome. The plan worked, as Sasuke was hit again.

Naruto saw both the fire jutsu AND the attempted breakout failure. He knew now, that entering the dome would be stupid even for him. He pulled out one of his kunai, wrapped an explosive tag around the handle and threw it at one of the mirrors, hoping to make a window for his comrade to escape. Unluckily, when it exploded, then mirror wasn't even damaged. Dammit. This was one heck of a jutsu.

Even Sasuke was annoyed. He knew the blonde's plan was good, but didn't expect the mirrors to be durable on the outside.

Haku was aware of Naruto's presence all a long. He allowed him to believe he had the element of surprise to know more about this new foe. Despite the failure tactic, the ice user saw how sharp the kid was. The teen knew it was only a matter of time before the blond manages to learn how to counter this jutsu or break his teammate free.

A mirror formed it itself behind the blond, and soon a rain of senbons bombarded him, pushing the fox-container closer and closer towards the dome. Naruto managed to over come the pain, when his danger sense suddenly kicked in. But it was too late. There was a new mirror next to him. The blond tried to smash mirror, but he only hurt himself. Haku grabbed him by the collar and threw him next to the Uchiha.

"Idiot!" Sasuke yelled at the blond, who was struggling to get up. "Why didn't you try to take the distance?"

But he was ignored. Naruto created about eight clones and each dashed in different direction. A futile attempt. Just like Sasuke, all Narutos were thrown back into the centre, and exploded, leaving only the original.

The 'clan avenger' suddenly seemed to have noticed something.

"Naruto. You think you could try that again? I have a plan."

"Sure. Just gimme a sec ta collect my self, will ya?" Naruto replied a bit shaken and in pain.

"You should give up." The ice user said to them. But this time, the boys could have sworn they could hear sadness in the older boy's voice. "I really do not wish to kill you, but if you continue to persist, I will find you a threat to Zabuza's dreams." The two genins of Team 7 shared the looks between themselves and nodded. Naruto created another set of clones, 12 this time, and ordered them to charge in the openings between the mirrors. As expected, they were all blown away. But surprisingly, when Haku about to deliver another blow to the original, the only Naruto left, his wrist was caught. The masked boy, shocked in surprise, took a look at his captor. It was Sasuke, who was smirking.

"Wha…? What? But how? It's impossible for a human eye to follow my movements while using this jutsu!" the boy asked, curious. The brunette is the first to manage and capture him. He couldn't help but have a questioning look under his mask, when he noticed the Uchiha grin.

"A human eye may not be able to follow." Sasuke raised his head, revealing his eyes to the ice user. They were red, just like Kakashi's left eye. But in Sasuke's case, his right eye had only two tomoes, rotating slowly, while the left one had only one, not moving at all. "But the sharingan is no ordinary eye!" he shouted, ready to deliver the blow.

*Strike*

There was silence. Two figures were standing still. Haku finally stepped back, away from the Uchiha, while holding his gut in pain. He refused to fall. Sasuke on the other hand…

Naruto saw everything. And he was terrified. Sasuke had had senbons at the heart height. He started to run, to catch his teammate before he could hit the ground.

"Sasuke!" the blond cried, "Sasuke, are ya alright?"

"Of course I'm fine, idiot." Sasuke winced in pain. "It's absolutely normal when you have freakin' senbon in your heart."

"Ya idiot! What the hell were ya thinkin'?"

He had no answer. Sasuke was just looking into the sky.

"He… He's still out there. My… brother. I swore that… I'll kill… him." Sasuke began to talk. His voice was growing weaker. "I guess… this… is as… far… as… I…goooo…."His eyes have closed. Naruto tried to find the pulse, but there was nothing. He hanged his head down, allowing the shadows to hide his face from the world. But Haku could see tears falling.

"Ya cretin. You're supposed ta be my rival. Don't die, SASUKE!"

"Is this the first time you see your comrade die?" Haku asked with no emotions in his voice again. "You should be honored to have one such as him. He died protecting his fellow teammate when one was in danger and died fighting, so you could fulfill your dreams."

"But wha' 'bout his dreams?" Naruto growled, not turning away. "How is he supposed to fulfill his dreams when he's dead?"

The ice user walked over to the mirror and slowly started to sink in it. "Protecting your comrades, at the price of your dreams. That is what it means to be ready to make a sacrifice. To make a sacrifice in the heat of battle… That's what it means to be a shinobi." He finally was within his mirror again and began to look at the blond, waiting for him to move.

Naruto growled again.

And darkness came.

Everyone was surprised by the sudden darkness. But more shocking was the sudden storm. The waves in the see under the bridge were hitting hard, as if trying to destroy the pillars of the construction. The thunders, which were illuminating the sky and the bridge, roared like beasts, and were coming closer towards the dome.

Naruto was growling more savagely every second. Soon enough, they were the growls of the beast. Haku's eyes widened under his mask, when he saw Naruto's shirt and vest burning, revealing his birthmark. It was glowing red.

Before the ice user could take a closer look, a sudden explosion of red light blinded him. Once he regained he eyesight, he saw the blond surrounded by a pillar of spiraling red energy. It was chakra. But it felt different. Foul, malicious, bloodthirsty, dark, twisted. Then he noticed the lightening hitting the genin, but it wasn't harming him. It was as if the boy was absorbing it. The blonde's hair became wilder than originally. From what he could see of the boy's face, his whisker-mark grew thicker. Nails turned into claws and his muscles became better developed than possible for anyone beneath the age of 16. The pillar of red chakra dispersed, leaving the blond in its flames. When another lightening hit, Haku could have sworn his saw the shadow of a canine with multiple tails instead of those the genin's body should cast.

In the air, a side from a strong wind, there was an inhumane blood thirst. Sakura and Tazuna felt incredibly sick and weak because of the sensation. The two fighting jonins on the other hand were sweating and trembling. Zabuza believed it to be Kakashi's another trick. The silver-haired Leaf-nin, on the other hand, feared there would be hell on earth if he didn't do something.

* * *

**Konoha, Hokage's Tower.**

The Third Hokage was reading another report brought by the team of chunins he send a few days earlier for land patrol in the northern part of the country. He was quite please there were no serious trouble in the area.

The aged man reached for his tea, when suddenly his cup cracked. Lord Hokage stared at it for a while, knowing all well it was a bad omen. Then his face showed a sign of worry and fear, as his mind, for reasons unknown, kept showing this one person.

"Naruto…" he whispered.

* * *

**Wave Country, the bridge construction side.**

There was a strong wind blowing. It was originating from the blond before him. The red lightening was shouting from his body as well. Haku was troubled. He never sensed anything like that ever before. Just who was that kid?

The blond finally turned towards the ice user. His face still hidden in shadows, revealing only two red blazing points. Haku knew immediately, it was his eyes. They were so full of hatred and blood lust. They were hateful blood red instead of caring deep blue. And the iris was slit. The blond finally spoke, with painful and hateful tone, which could scare even a kage.

"**I'm gonna kill you!**"

To be continued…

* * *

A/N. Another chapter. Next will be most likely final of the Wave arc. And this is gonna be a spoiler, but after the next one, I'm not about to start the Chunin Exam arc just yet. Well, 'til next time.

*Whack*

Kakashi: What are you doing? I though I told you: NO SPOILERS!

Me: Well sorry, I'm just tryin' to make things more interesting.

Kakashi: *sigh* And I though Naruto would spoil the surprise.

Naruto: HEY!


	11. Chapter 10 Wave mission part 7

**Previously on Storm God Naruto…**

There was a strong wind blowing. It was originating from the blond before him. The red lightening was shooting from his body as well. Haku was troubled. He never sensed anything like that ever before. Just who was that kid?

The blond finally turned towards the ice user. His face still hidden in shadows, revealing only two red blazing points. Haku knew immediately, it was his eyes. They were so full of hatred and blood lust. They were hateful blood red instead of caring deep blue. And the iris was slit. The blond finally spoke, with painful and hateful tone, which could scare even a kage.

"**I'm gonna kill you!**"

* * *

**Charter 10**

**Wave Mission- part 7- The Bridge to the future- part 3**

The wind blew strong. It was as if naruto was the source of a taifun. Flames of red chakra on the blonde's body, bloody red eyes, sharp claws, ridiculously muscular arms and shoulders, the aura of pure hatred, red lightning, electric currents running through the senbons, that Haku impaled into the boy's flesh, and then burning as all the injuries were instantly healing in the hiss. It was terrifying. It was like seeing the storm itself.

"His wounds…" Haku whispered in awe. "They're healing so fast. And his eyes… Such blood lust… I MUST defeat him NOW." He threw his senbons, tending to finish this fight. But as his senbons were halfway, the blond roared, causing a shockwave so strong, the projectiles were deflected. The ice user was shocked. Such power in the scream alone. Then the blond shot forward. Haku barely noticed when he moved and disappeared within the mirror. Naruto stopped. A new wave of needles was send flying at him. The fox container caught them easily and threw them back where he saw his enemy.

No, correction. His prey.

Unfortunately, the fake hunter-nin disappeared again. Mad at this, the berserking blond grabbed the nearest mirror and hit the next with it. Haku, who appeared in the top mirror, saw this and was horrified. This child now was strong enough to break his mirrors with brute strength. He had to finish this quickly. So he appeared in all the mirrors at once and threw his senbons. All hit, but the blond did seem to even flinch. He just roared again, shooting them right back. Now he jumped at the top mirror himself, grabbed it and threw it down. While the blond was falling, Haku jumped out from the mirror behind him, performing a new setoff hand seals.

"Ice Style: Piercing Edge of Blizzards!" he called, and around him four katanas made of ice appeared. Naruto looked up, gritting his now fanged teeth. Once he touched the ground, he disappeared before the ice user had a change to hit with his jutsu. Haku looked around and tried to hide back in the mirror, but when he was just about to jump into one, he felt someone grab his masked face an squeeze him to the ground with incredible force. He opened his eyes and found himself underneath the blond.

"**What's the matter?**" Naruto asked through his fangs gritted. "**Fight back.**" He raised his voice and hit Haku with a powerful punch to his face. Then he grabbed him by the neck and raised him as high as he could, releasing even more chakra. "**FIGHT ME, COWAAAAARD!**" he roared.

* * *

Sakura was sweating cold. Never before has she felt this much wrath and blood lust. It was unnatural. She was trembling so badly, she could barely hold her kunai.

'_What's going on out there?_' She though, '_What is this power. I hope nothing bad happens to Sasuke and Naruto._'

Tazuna fell to his knees. So much malice in the air, bombarding his senses. It was unbearable. It was a wonder why he hasn't fainted yet.

* * *

Kakashi was nervous. He was focused on Zabuza then, since he was really dangerous. But now he was worried about his blond student. He could feel the blast of ominous chakra.

'Damn, Naruto.' he thought, 'Is the seal broken?' the jonin took his time and focused on the chakra. '_No. Luckily, it's just cracked, leaking some of the fox's chakra, but it's still holding. Meaning things are still good enough to save them._" The silver-haired ninja opened one of the pockets in his vest and pulled out a scroll. He opened it, cut his thumb, smeared some blood on the scroll, closed it and made a 'ram' hand seal while holding a scroll.

"Say, Zabuza? Since we're both busy people, mind I make you a deal?" he asked out loud.

"A deal? What kind of deal exactly?" came a question from the swordsman. Kakashi smirked under his mask.

"Simple really. If you can land at least a blow on me, I'll give up. What do you say? Or is it that the great Master of Silent Killing has lost his touch?"

"Ha! Ya think I'm stupid enough to fall for something this ridiculous? I can tell you're up to something." Zabuza chuckled. But Kakashi didn't answer.

'Just one more push and it's over.' Kakashi thought.

* * *

Haku was struggling. He did everything he could to get free. But his opponent was too strong, releasing all that red chakra and blowing away what he gathered.

'_I can't believe it._' He cried mentally. '_His chakra's so strong. It's blowing away my own. Just who is that kid?_'

Then the blond raised his free hand towards the sky and all that red chakra seemed to have gathered there. He curled it into a fist and within a split second, he stroke Haku in the face, sending him through the air, breaking through the mirror, and a few feet away. As the young partner of Zabuza's rolled, his mask broke.

The mirrors, that were left, quickly melted, falling to the ground, and Naruto dashed towards his prey. Haku simply raised his head, not bothering to stand up. His mask fell off his face, revealing a very feministic looking face. One for which you could mistake him for a girl.

'_Zabuza. I have failed you._' He cried mentally. _'I can not defeat this child._' Naruto was getting closer. Ready to deliver the finishing blow. '_I am of no more use to you._' He closed his eyes, waiting for the finish.

But it never came.

He opened his eyes, and saw the blond… struggling? Was he fighting with himself? No, he was shivering. In fear and disgust. Haku could clearly see tears running down his cheeks.

"Why did are you hesitating?" the teen asked, standing up and not bothering to dust his robes. "You have defeated me. You the chance to end my life."

"No." Naruto whispered, but Haku could hear him.

"Why not? I killed your friend. It's only fair you take my life for it." Hearing this, the blond backed away his hand, still shivering.

"I have killed once, 'n' I hate it." The ice user's eyes widened at that. "When I killed that man, even if it was in self defense, I saw myself as everythin' I hate. People back at my village keep tryin' to take my life almost everyday. My first kill just showed me, that by killin', I am just the same as them. No matta wha' the circumstances, I will just be the same as them with every life I take." Naruto cried. Only now would any one notice he was no longer the berserking beast, but a venerable preteen boy. Haku's heart bleed by the words this child spoke. He questionably smiled.

"Tell me, please. Do you… have any one precious to you?"

"Huh?" Naruto couldn't understand.

"Precious people, those whom you find precious, do you have them?" the teen asked again. But instead of an answer, Naruto lowered his head. He sure had people close to him. But were they precious? Old man hokage, Anko, her cousin, Iruka, Team 7.

"I… I don't know." The blond whispered. "Why?"

Haku gave him a warm smile. "Because, if you have them, you'll be willing to protect them, even if it means going as far as taking another's life." Naruto gave him a look of fear. To kill someone just to satisfy someone? "You said you don't like killing. But, if it means you can protect them, AND you have NO OTHER option, then you have the will to break that and do it, just so they can cherish with you longer. If it means… they can acknowledge your existence."

"Is that why you work with that psychopath Zabuza? Is THAT why you killed my friend?" the blond roared in anger.

"Yes."

"WHY?"

Haku's smile just widened.

"Because it is thanks to him that I live. My childhood wasn't that pleasant. I was threatened because of something beyond my control. Because of something within my blood. Kekkei genkai. The genetic ability release, ability, jutsu, transferred from generation to generation via their genetic material, sleeping within us until we experience something that forces it to be at use. I grew in the Water Country, which by then was at the Purge War, as our Mizukage feared those with kekkei genkai. He ordered every single one of use executed. My family hid its abilities from the world yet before my birth. Yet, not all secrets can stay hidden from the world forever when one ignorant is all that it takes. Betrayed by those we trusted most, my family was killed. I alone survived thanks to his heart. One year of loneliness, no one troubled to help a child. I simply existed. But was unnecessary. Then he came. Zabuza. He was there. Saving me was the first and only time, when allowed his humanity take over. He never expected understanding from me for thinking of me as a weapon, but for some reason I couldn't hate for that. As much as I loved my family, he was the first to truthfully acknowledge me. I meant something for someone. That's why he's precious to me."

A single tear ran down his cheek. Haku inhaled some air quickly and pulled out a kunai.

"But now, that I failed him, I have no reason to live on. Please, kill me."

* * *

Kakashi kept waiting concentrating. He felt the demonic chakra disappear, for which he was glad, but he still had to deal with the assassin. But he was now ready.

"If you can't handle me, Zabuza, then I suggest you just quit. There's still a chance for you." He shouted, pressing the scroll against the ground. Now he waited for the right moment.

"Ha! Like you're able to beat me that easily. If ya could, then why didn't ya do it earlier?" the question came.

That was his signal.

"Because I waited for THIS!" The Leaf-jonin channeled some chakra in to the scroll, and the marking on it surrounded him. Within the next few seconds, Kakashi heard the cry of pain. It worked.

"Earth Style: Summoning: Hidden Dog Track Trap!" Kakashi explained loudly, turning to his left, where he now could see his opponent, who now was held by dogs, forcing him to slowly undo the jutsu. "I finally caught you. You have no idea how long it took me to state you were in this direction."

"But how? Dogs? You didn't know my scent." Zabuza growled in disbelieve.

"No. But luckily, you had my scent on your blade." Kakashi walked over to Zabuza, eyeing him carefully. "I can't believe you're after the bridge builder. Don't you know what are they suffering? How much is Gato paying you to make this country more miserable? THESE PEOPLE HAVE A DREAM OF BEING A FREE COUNTRY! DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT THAT?"

"You're right, Monkey. I don't give a damn about their dream. I have my own dream. A dream to take down that damn kage, who keeps killing all these people just because of the genetic ability."

"Then I'm sorry to do this. You should feel honored, Zabuza. I shall not finish you with another jutsu I copied. I shall show you my very own, original jutsu." Leader of Team 7 admitted. So he ran through the necessary sequence of hand seals, and soon, his right hand was entirely covered with electricity.

'_He's gathering so much chakra. I can tell this jutsu must have a hell of a kick if he needs to gather so much of it into his single hand._' Zabuza thought.

"Raikiri!" Kakashi cried. Now he was about to deliver the blow. Finally, it would come to an end.

*Strike*

To both Kakashi's and Zabuza's shock, the jutsu never hit the original target, but somebody else. Haku. Impaled in the heart by the Raikiri. Kakashi was caught off guard.

The hounds disappeared as Zabuza roared in pure rage. The silver-haired ninja tried to avoid the attack, but Haku's body made it difficult. With the last of his strength, assassin's partner made a hand seal, and the ice mirror, from which he was able to come and save his master, turned into a spear of ice and launched at the Leaf-nin. Kakashi saw the projectile, as well as an enraged swordsman, who by now was about to decapitate his enemy.

Luckily, Kakashi escaped. He managed to substitute himself with some wood. Zabuza was damn furious.

* * *

Naruto still stood there. Not moving a muscle, as the mist began to finally lift. Haku vanished from where he stood originally. He didn't understand why. Soon, he noticed something pink not too far away from him. He knew who that was all too well.

Sakura.

"Naruto!" she called happily. "You're alright. Where's Sasuke?" The blond didn't answer. She became worried when she noticed his reaction. "Naruto, please tell me he's fine. Please." She cried. The boy just sidestepped, so the kunoichi in training could see the brunette laying on the ground, looking like a pincushion. She stood there for a while until, finally, she ran. As Sakura was passing by the blond, he noticed something about her that pained him more than he expected.

She was crying.

Tazuna, who knew better than to stay behind, made a short eye contact with Naruto, giving him a look telling him he was sorry.

The blond didn't look back at his teammates. His heart couldn't stand it.

* * *

Zabuza kept swinging his blade like mad. Mad at the Leaf-nin before him, who was toying with him. Right now, he could use only his right arm, as Kakashi broke the other one. Luckily for him, Kakashi had a serious cut to his side and now both of them were careful.

When the two stopped to take their breaths and think over their strategies, clapping could be heard. Everyone turned to where the sound was coming from. There, at the edge of the bridge, Zabuza, the bridge builder, the genins and their jonin could see a big group, no, an army of thugs. All of them were armed in some sort of weapons, from professionally made katanas, naginatas and crossbows to hand-made clubs. Amongst them, in the first line, there was one person they all didn't truly expect to see. It was a short man, dressed like any other business man, wearing round sun classes and possessing a gemmed cane. That man also had his right arm in a cast.

It was Gato.

"Well, well, well. Lookie here, boys. It appears the great demon is just a lame, weak deformation of a man." He said.

"Gato? What is the meaning of this?" Zabuza asked growling.

"To be blunt, I found this a perfect opportunity to dispose of you, Zabuza."

"What? You tryin' to tell me you were never gonna pay for my service?"

"Exactly. Don't take it personally, Zabuza. It's just business. You missing-nins are just too expensive for my taste. So, whenever you're done with the mission, I just order them killed. And since they're usually exhausted after the job I hire them for, it's pretty easy for my men to get rid of them." He smiled seeing how Zabuza was giving him a death-promising glare.

"Well, Monkey. It appears our fight has ended. Since I am no longer Shorty's employee, which means Tazuna's save, we have no quarrel." The swordsman spoke to Kakashi as calmly as he could, receiving a reply from the ever stoic silver-haired jonin.

"Indeed. I guess you're right."

Then, Gato looked around and finally focusing his gaze on dead Haku. "The girl with the pink hair may be lucky and be spared to entertain me later on. The rest of you will die. And as for this little punk…" Gato moved closer to the corpse, which were just a few feet away from him.

And started to kick it.

"I own him some for breaking my arm. Take that you filth. Take that. And this one. And another."

Naruto was watching this in disbelieve. That short man, who was the kingpin terrorizing Wave, was kicking a dead body of a boy. It was sickening.

"STOP IT!" he yelled and ran forward. "LEAVE 'IM ALONE!" He ran and ran, until he was caught by his sensei.

"Naruto! Stop it. Calm down. Use your head."

"And wha' 'boutcha, Zabuza? Are ya just gonna do nothin'?"

"Boy. Shut up." Momochi growled. "Haku's dead. What does it matter now?

"Wha'? Ya mean you're just gonna stand 'ere and let him be treated like a dog? Haku and you were together for years. Doesn't that mean anythin' for ya?"

"Alright. That's enough, Naruto. Calm down." Kakashi tried to calm the blond. "Zabuza isn't the enemy here. Now at least." He explained the situation as simple as possible. He hoped this explanation would make his student cool down.

But his words didn't affect him.

"Shut up! As far as I care, he's THE enemy 'ere! Haku wasn't just workin' for ya. He LIVED for ya. Ya were precious ta him. He never had a dream of his own. Didn't care how badly he felt. All he ever wanted was to see your dream come true. And he gave up his life for ya. Doesn't THAT matter to ya? Are ya tryin' to tell me, that when I grow strong, I'm gonna throw him away like a knife that can no longer be sharpened and used? HUH?"

Then, there was silence, disrupted only by the waves beneath the unfinished bridge. The strange aura could be felt in the air. It was the swordsman. But it wasn't a killer intent that could be felt. It was different. You could feel cold, saddening feeling. It was heavy. Then the blond saw something at the assassin's feet. Something he truly didn't expect from the man called a demon.

Tears.

"Shut up." Zabuza said, clearly trying to fight his tears to no success. Kakashi was honestly surprised. This man, who used to kill with no regret, who was just about to take a life of an old man, was affected by the words of a child. "Your words pain me. They pain me more than the sharpest blade ever would. He was too empathic. It was always him, who hesitated to take another's life. And now, damn him, I feel his pain. I can feel my heart bleeding with sorrow and regret I've been ignoring for all these years. I always ignored that feeling, but you, brat, you managed to make these feelings too strong to ignore." He turned his head. Naruto could see his eyes clearly now. So many tears coming out from his eyes. His sad eyes, which probably would never smile again. The swordsman let go of his blade and removed the bandages, revealing his face. He was exposing his sharp teeth while showing his regretful face. "Boy. Tell me your name."

Naruto was shocked for a while. He was truly expecting to find a demon under that mask. He barely comprehended what the assassin said.

"N… Naruto… Uzumaki Naruto."

Zabuza just stared at the boy for a while longer. Eying him, as if looking for something. Finally he smirked, and turned back to face Gato.

"Uzumaki Naruto, huh? Thanks kid. When this is over, I think I'm gonna own you one big time. I've been fighting many enemies. Some of them were so much stronger, that I had no choice but to sneak up at them. Some of them were strong enough to catch me. But you… you're different then any of them. You're the first one to ever break me, without even landing a punch on me. I can tell, you're somethin' else. A shinobi who's heart is no weakness, but strength."

* * *

Sakura kept crying. The boy she loved was dead. She couldn't handle it. She was just placed on the same team as he. For her, it was a sign that she could have a future with him. And now, he was dead. Tazuna wasn't trying to comfort her, as he didn't want to hurt her more. He knew that sometimes you have to let people cry and mourn. At least for now. After all, that's what makes us humans.

"Sakura? You're not making it any easier for me to breath." a whisper came. She raised her head. It was Sasuke. He was still alive.

"Sasuke?" Now she whispered, afraid she could be imagining things.

But it was true.

"Sasuke! You're alive!" She hugged him in all her joy, depth to his groans of pain.

'_Thank the gods. He was just unconscious._' He thought.

Sakura helped Sasuke get up. Once they were on their feet, they walked over to their teammates.

"Kakashi-sensei! Sasuke's alive! He's just weakened!" Sakura announced. Kakashi eye-smiled hearing this.

Zabuza grabbed the handle of his blade and raised it, ready to attack. Seeing this, Gato stepped away, but kept his smirk, as he had an army of thugs behind him.

"My, Zabuza. You truly think you can take me. Even you can't beat this many. And your current allies seem tired as well. You're all done for." Gato chuckled. It was about sixty against 6. The ninjas traded the looks between each other, ready to fight until the end.

Then an arrow landed before Gato. He jumped in fear, certain it was aimed at him. He looked forward, and what he saw scared him.

The people of Wave were organized as an army. Poorly, but determined. All shouting to Gato to give up or to leave their country. In front of the crowd was a familiar nine-year old with a crossbow.

"We had enough of you, Gato! We're no longer afraid of you! If you want us to submit, then you'll have to kill every single one of us!" Inari yelled, having the whole crowd approve it.

Many of the thugs stood their ground, but most of them started to run away. They were supposed to fight this. Forget it. Gato was about to run himself, but was pushed aside by one of the thugs, hoping the people of Wave would spare them if they had their hands on the man who made their lives miserable. Before he knew, Zabuza was before him.

"Za… Zabuza! Please, don… Don't kill me! I… I'll pay you twice the price if you let me go. What do y…" He never got to finish. His head rolled on the ground and fell to the sea. Gato was no more. As the remaining thugs were sailing away, the people cheered. They were finally free.

* * *

Seven days later.

The days past. Zabuza buried Haku's body on the lone hill not too far from the bridge, recognizable for only one sakura tree growing on top of it. That tree would now be decorating his grave. And the hill was named Haku's Bed. Because that's how Haku's body looked like. As if he was not dead, but asleep.

The bridge, over the passing week, was finally complete. It was so beautiful. Now the people of Wave and Fire could cross the bridge, and the country would rise again. Team 7 was ready to be the first to walk on it. Yes, it was the day they would depart. Even Zabuza was seeing them off.

"You sure you don't want to come with us, Zabuza? I'm sure Lord Hokage would welcome you in his ranks." Kakashi asked him. He was certain the village would use someone of his skills.

"Ha, fat chance, Monkey. I'd rather stay here for a week longer until my arm is good enough and then I think I'll travel the world. Who knows? Maybe Haku's comeback somewhere out there." The swordsman wondered. He knew Kakashi offered him a new home, but he preferred to see the world. Maybe he was hoping to find a child which would redeem him of what he did to Haku?

"Oh, c'mon, Eyebrowless. Ya sure ya don't wanna stick with us?" Naruto asked him, grinning like mad. Zabuza just gave him an amused look. After a while, he smiled under his mask.

"Sorry, brat. My mind has been made. But if we meet ever again somewhere out there, maybe I'll teach you some kenjutsu as payback."

At the sound of that, the blond suddenly appeared before him, with stars in his eyes.

"Ya really mean it?" he asked excited. His excitement caused his team and the swordsman to sweat drop, while Tazuna and his family chuckled.

"Well then, I take it this is where we say our good bye." The bridge builder asked.

"Guess so." Kakashi answered. Inari broke into tears.

"Naruto. Please, visit us soon. Alright?" he cried. The only answer he received from his 'older brother' was a thumb up and a cheeky smile.

After everyone said their good byes, Team 7 finally moved out. Tsunami couldn't help but notice that Inari was crying, already missing Naruto, while her father was in deep thought.

"Something the matter, father?" she asked, getting his attention.

"I've been wondering about something for the pass five days. And finally, I've decided."

"On what?"

"This bridge deserves a name. So I'll name it in honor of the one who changed our country and teached us what courage is all about." Now everyone around him was curious, even Zabuza. "In honor of that person, who changed Inari."

"You mean…?" the swordsman was about to finish the question, when he received the answer.

"That's right! From this day on, this bridge shall be known as 'The Great Naruto Bridge'!"

Everyone cheered at the sound of that, while Zabuza smirked again. He was right back then. That kid was something else.

* * *

Unknown location.

The bats were looking for a way out, and water kept dripping from the cave ceiling, breaking the silence every few seconds. A hooded figure walked over to the darker corner. There, he was looking at a silhouette with, as it seems, spiky hair. Soon he spoke with a deep baritone. (A/N. Like Tony Jay or Earl Boen in 'WoW: Wrath of the Lich King')

"What do you have to report?"

"He has awakened it." The silhouette answered, and his answer was followed by another one.

"**It has only just awakened and it was already impressive.**"

The hooded man just looked at him for a few more seconds. Finally, he broke the silence.

"I see. Then the gears of destiny began to move."

"What do you want us to do now? Should we tell them?"

"No. Not yet. For now just watch him."

"**And the other one?**"

"Watch him as well." He reached for under his robes, and pulled out a mask. Then he put it on. "I have no doubt **he** will reveal himself soon. The question is, which he will go after."

The silhouette nodded and sank into the ground, while the figure walked away.

* * *

**A/N**. Well that's it. Wave arc complete. I'm gonna try make the next chapter something more original, taking place before the chunin exam arc. See to it.


	12. Chapter 11 What the hell now?

**Chapter 11**

**What the hell now?**

The Third Hokage was looking out at the village, proud of Team 7's success. They were at his office this morning to report and to hear that not only were they able to protect Tazuna from an A-rank missing-nin, but to persuade him to change sides and take care of the criminal self-proclaimed lord of Wave Gato was something truly worthy of hearing. He was surprised to hear how well all three genins performed. They were on the right path to greatness. Now, as the sun was hiding behind the horizon, giving the sky a shade of gold, Sarutobi wondered about the future. Maybe Naruto would do well as a hokage. Sakura would perhaps become a top kunoichi of the new generation. And Sasuke… Maybe he could still be saved from seeking vengeance. Kakashi really had a promising team.

* * *

Night time. Konoha streets.

The streets were empty, which was a good thing for certain two people. Kids to be precise. Since their return this morning, Team 7 was given 3 days free-off-duty. Meaning, they had no need even for their training, just so they could relax and rest. Naruto just decided to use this free time and train of course.

Now, the blond and his childhood friend, Anko, after their training session, were off to Ichiraku's, Naruto's favorite ramen-serving stand. Lucky for her, she had her favorite packed. Dango.

"Say, Anko? Whaddya think our senseis would say if he were to catch us with this new jutsu of yours? Wouldn't they freak out or something'?" The blond asked her, earning a funny look from her. After a few seconds of thinking, see grinned.

"Don't worry, Naruto. It's not like we're trying to kill each other." She answered. Then, her face changed into that of disappointment. "Although, it just means we were too soft on each other."

Naruto sweat dropped hearing that. But what did you expect, she liked it rough. She enjoyed getting bruised and liked to hurt others. For her it just meant the training was good. She liked to fight.

Naruto was so deep in thoughts, that he was easily caught by her by the neck. Anko slightly strangled him, giving him a sadistic grin.

"So next time we're training, we're using sharp weapons and cutting each other! You got me?" she asked loudly. Naruto could barely nod as his skin was turning blue. Finally she let him go. "Good to hear. Now let's get something to eat!" and she started to run, dragging the blond like a life-sized rag-doll.

* * *

Later. Near Anko's apartment.

The two felt good. They ate. They talked more. They argued over a little thing of no importance, as Anko's talk about the blonde's hair was of little importance. Really. As they were near her apartment complex, Naruto was about to make a turn to his apartment, when he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Not so fast, Naruto." Anko halted him, "There's somethin' I wanted to ask you and I think this is the right time to do so."

Naruto turned his head to face her. He was curious what she wanted to ask him about. But somehow he felt he knew.

"About your mission in Wave and that fight with that ice user. You said there was a moment you felt different. As if there was someone trying to rip out your soul. Wha…?" She never got to finish, as someone appeared next to them.

"Now, now, Anko. You shouldn't bother Naruto. I'm sure that whatever happened to him on the mission is something that can be dealt with. Right, Naruto?" a man asked, giving the two a warm smile. However, Anko didn't seem affected and kicked him in the groin.

"Izo, you idiot!" She yelled while the poor guy fell to his knees, yelling in pain and holding his hurt pride. "I was in the middle of discussion and you just barge in and ruin everything! Now I'm in no mood to have my fun with him!" Naruto sweat dropped. He knew her definition of 'fun'.

Izo, the guy on the ground, was familiar to the blond. He didn't really know him that good, aside the fact he was dating Anko's cousin for three years. The man was quite recognizable for having black hair on the right side of his head, while the rest of them were pink. He also had pink eyes. Aside from that, nothing really outstanding in his looks. He was about 6 cm shorter than Kakashi, wore standard jonin outfit. Nothing more, nothing less. However, as far as he didn't show to like Naruto, he actually NEVER showed any hostility towards him. That made the blond somewhat suspicious of the man at first, but after a few months he actually came to like him.

Izo finally pulled himself together and stood up, still feeling pain.

"Anko. I thought I told you: NEVER STRIKE YOUR NEPHEWS AND NIECES, YOU IDIOT!" he yelled at her, delivering a strong punch to her head.

"WELL EXCUSE ME FOR YOU BEING AN IDIOT WHO SHOWS UP AT THE WRONG TIME! COULDN'T YOU AT LEAST WAIT A FEW MORE SECS?"

"Sorry. But I believe Naruto isn't in the mood to talk about his sensations yet. Anyway…" He caught her and started to carry her on his shoulder. "You're supposed to be in bed right now. And I'm so seeing to it you won't sneak out at night this time."

"Ha, as if you could hold me forever… 'night, Naruto… you freakin' idiot. You may be my cousin's boyfriend, but you're no lord of mine." They finally disappeared. Naruto stood there for a few more seconds, trying to understand what just happened. Soon enough, he just moved.

* * *

Later. Hokage Tower.

In the darkness, where all shinobi had an advantage, a group formed of four guards was sitting on the floor, playing poker. Nothing was going on… as usual. One of the guards even believed this job to be a prank from Lord Third himself. After all, Who in their right mind would dare to break into the room with forbidden items? That room held the things which would kill the user before granting him or her power.

Although, there was one certain 12-year-old who stole the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing.

One of the guards was about to call 'poker', when the candle suddenly died. The sudden darkness surprised them. They quickly stood up and took a look around. There was no body around. One of the guards, who wore a wolf mask, wanted to light up the candle back, when he heard his fellow comrades fall unconscious. He looked back, only to see a silhouette.

"You? What are you…?" he was he in the celiac plexus and finished it with a strong knee to the chin, knocking the guard down. The figure smirked.

* * *

Morning. Training ground 7

Naruto leaned on the training post to which he was tied up to. He was waiting for his sensei. He promised to come and see the results of his training with the jutsu he taught him after the survival test. The blond was anxious to show Kakashi how far he progressed within two months. At first, of course, he was complaining about the jutsu being lame. But when Kakashi explained its purpose and strengths, he immediately began to master it. Though still he thought this was more of a trick rather then a jutsu.

He was waiting here for three hours now. And he was about to take a nap, when…

"Yo." Kakashi showed up, waving his hand to greet his student.

"You're late, sensei!" Naruto shouted in whole his fury.

"Sorry I'm late. But there was this little old lady with a puppy that got stock on the Hokage Monument so I had to fight enemy ninjas who wanted to shove their spears up my behind." The jonin sensei explained, earning a sweat drop from his student.

"You're a lousy liar, ya know?" Now it was Kakashi's turn to sweat drop.

"Anyway… I heard you mastered the jutsu. Right?"

"Yeah. And I'm ready to show ya just how good I can perform it."

Naruto was about to reach for his pouch, when six Masked ninjas, wearing leather armor over the black cat suits, showed up, surrounding the two.

Kakashi didn't flinch. ANBU, the special shinobi, who wear chosen, not promoted, and acted more as police in the ranks of shinobi, were no joke. If they came here. Then something very serious must have taken place.

"Is the Lord Hokage sending for me?" the silver-haired ninja asked. But one of the ANBU, apparently the team leader, shook his head.

"No, Kakashi. We're not here for you." The leader explained. Then, all six of the ANBU draw their blades and pointed them at the blond. "Uzumaki Naruto. By the order of the council and Lord Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, you are under arrest."

Both Kakashi and his student were surprised. Although Naruto was rather shocked.

"Wha' the…? I'm being arrested? Under what charges? Don't go tellin' me that one of my pranks caused someone a heart attack and killed that someone." the genin asked loudly.

"Under the charges of steeling, attacking your superiors and stealing!"

Kakashi tried to comprehend the situation. He didn't want to believe his student was being accused for these.

"Naruto! Be honest with me! Is it true?" He asked with all seriousness in his voice. He even revealed his sharingan to see if Naruto was lying.

"No, I didn't! I swear! I didn't do any of this!" the blond cried. But before he noticed, chains were wrapped around him. He even found his hands shackled. He was now about to panic.

"You're coming with us for interrogation. After that, maybe Lord Hokage will show you some mercy and won't execute you." The ANBU, who was wearing a bull mask, said.

Kakashi could see his blond genin about to hyperventilate. He was so scared. Clearly he couldn't grasp the situation. The silver-haired Leaf-nin knew the blond for long enough to tell that right now…

The ANBU made a huge mistake.

As he thought, the blond gathered his strength and broke the chains, though the shackles still held him. The masked ninjas were at awe and shock. No one should ever be able to break these chains so quickly due to the seals, which were siphoning his chakra.

Naruto looked around, thinking how to escape. Where should he run? But he wasn't thinking straight now. Kakashi decided to try and calm him down.

"Naruto. Calm down." He said with warm and secure tone, hoping the blond would listen. "I'm sure the Hokage will not allow you any harm. Just calm down." He could see it was slowly working. But not well enough. "Naruto. If you resist, you'll just make your situation worse. Let's see what this is all about. Then we can look for a way out of this mess."

The blond was finally calming down.

But to their surprise, 'Bull' Decided to try his luck and jumped at the blond with chains and ready to give him a shot. Kakashi mentally cursed for the ANBU's stupidity.

When he wrapped the chain around the genin, Naruto let go the smoke bomb and the two were now hidden in the smoke. Everyone outside it waited for the smoke to lift. Once it did. There laid 'Bull. Whole tied up and unconscious. Mentally, Hatake was impressed. Naruto has managed to out maneuver an elite shinobi with a simple trick. Well, he was after all experienced in avoiding them, plus he was unpredictable. But what worried him was that the genin just made the accusers more convinced about his fault. This was bad.

* * *

Council room.

It was a huge, round room with no windows. The torches were all the light they had. The aged hokage took his seat in the middle of the semi-round table. To both his sides were his advisors, the village elders. Looking to his right was the shinobi council, formed of the greatest shinobi clans in Konoha. To the left was the civilian council, formed of the most prestigious villagers' members.

He didn't like this meeting at all. They were trying to get Naruto since his birth. They tried isolating him, executing, banishing and even turning him into a weapon. How the aged village leader hated these meetings. Luckily, some were with the hokage.

"I call this meeting started as of now." Hiruzen called. "As of now, we are here to discuss the matter of thievery, which took place last night." He scanned everyone in the room. Most had a look of anger.

"One of the guards managed to see the thief. It was none other then Uzumaki Naruto." Koharu, one of the village elders continued. There was uproar amongst the council members.

"The brat should be executed for this!" One of the civilian council members shouted.

"I agree! That demon finally showed its true colors!" The other supported.

"Then you're all idiots." Someone interrupted them, silencing everyone. It was Nara Shikaku, head of the Nara clan. He was a tall brunette with his hair tied in a ponytail, making his head look like a pineapple, had a goatee and two scars on his face. One was on his right cheek, and the other above his right eyebrow. "Just how sure is the guard that it was Naruto in the first place? From what I recall from the investigation report, he said it was dark."

"Indeed." Homura, the other village elder now started, adjusting his glasses. "However, he could tell it was a kid, with spiky blond hair and whisker birthmarks on his cheeks. Plus the way that kid knocked out four ANBU. It had to be him." There were arguments between the council members again, when someone silenced them again.

"Are you certain it was him and not someone impersonating him?" The question was asked by Niigetsu Yamamoto, head of the Niigetsu clan. "Or do you just not wish to accept the fact it could be someone framing him?"

"Lord Niigetsu. Are you insinuating we're taking advantage of the situation against the boy? That's preposterous!" A fat civilian council member said.

"It's true. How can you claim we're doing so?" Koharu asked. Yamamoto just gave her a bored look.

"First of, this council made sure the boy would stay orphan by passing the decree that he would not be adopted by any of the shinobi clans and still sought to it none of the civilians, who did not him as the Fox, wouldn't take him in." He glared at the civilian half of the councilors. "Secondly: have you all forgotten how Mizuki took advantage of the kid? How do we know someone's not trying the same trick?" For a minute, there were whispers amongst the people.

"Fair enough." Homura answered. "But still, the boy escaped while to be taken in for interrogation. That proves he's quilt. He should…"

"Oh? He was to be taken to the Torture and Interrogation Bureau, or be kicked there. I clearly remember the way he was arrested for that graffiti he painted all over Hokage Tower three years ago. While you could just grab him and drag him, the AANBU beat him up just after finding him and every two hundred meter they would stop just to kick him some more. IN PUBLIC! Just because the COUNCIL ORDERED THEM TO DO SO! You really blame him for running away?" A large shinobi councilor asked. His name was Akimichi Choza, head of the Akimichi clan. He was large (though actually he was fat), had long, red, spiky hair, and purple markings on his cheeks.

"You have a point." The aged hokage interrupted, before thing would go out of hands. "But what I wish to know is what was stolen from the room."

"There was only one thing stolen from there." Homura admitted. Everyone could see him sweating like mad. "The Mask of Jubokko."

At the sound of that, everyone showed fear.

"WHAT?" Hiruzen screamed. "OF ALL THE THINGS IN THAT ROOM, WHY THE HELL WOULD ANYONE WANT THAT THING?" he snapped his fingers, and twelve ANBU showed up before the council table. "I WANT UZUMAKI NARUTO FOUND AND BROUGHT HERE! BUT NOT A SINGLE HAIR IS TO FALL OFF HIS HEAD! UNDERSTOOD?" the ANBU nodded and left via shunshin. Then Yamamoto stood up and walked towards the doors.

"Where do you think you're going, Lord Niigetsu?" One of the civilian councilors asked.

"To make sure things are right. You may have forbidden adopting him, but you can't stop us from watching over him." He looked back at the council. "After all, unlike you, ignorant idiots, I have faith in Fourth Hokage's abilities and decision he made that day."

"You dare say we doubt his competence?" Homura hissed. "It's not that we find him as the demon itself. We just don't believe it to be weak enough not to influence the kid."

"This is why I must go and find him." Then the green-haired man shunshined.

"That man is so bothersome sometimes." Shikaku murmured. The rest of the council nodded in agreement.

* * *

Somewhere in the village.

He was feeling dizzy. Luckily, his adrenaline level was still high, so it wasn't that bad. Otherwise he would be unconscious. The blond finally decided to pull out the broken needle out of his arm. It wasn't really pleasant, but now he felt relieve. Now he was thinking one thing.

Now what?

To be continued…

* * *

A/N. Well, another chapter. And more to come in due time.

Sakura: Hey! What about Sasuke? You can't have people read this if there's no Sasuke!

Me: So… he's not in this chapter? Oh well.

Sakura: Whaddya mean 'oh well'? You idiot! Shannaro!

*punch*

Me: OUCH!

Sasuke: Idiot.


	13. Chapter 12 Investigation

**Previously on Storm God Naruto…**

He was feeling dizzy. Luckily, his adrenaline level was still high, so it wasn't that bad. Otherwise he would be unconscious. The blond finally decided to pull out the broken needle out of his arm. It wasn't really pleasant, but now he felt relieve. Now he was thinking one thing.

Now what?

* * *

**Chapter 12**

**Investigation**

It was late in the afternoon, and the Third Hokage was still waiting at the tower entrance for Team 7 to arrive. He wanted them to find Naruto before anyone else would. The thing was he felt extremely troubled. Things seemed not in his favor. He felt a little disturbed about what he learned a few minutes earlier.

Flashback

_Sarutobi just send on of the ANBU to get Team 7. He believed they would know where Naruto would be hiding and bring him in. he was now reading a new report on the investigation.__ There were now even more evidence of the blonde's quilt. This didn't look good. The aged kage really wanted to help the boy. In whole his heart, but he couldn't just ignore the facts. It pained him thinking that Naruto, whom he saw as his grandson, could actually do something like this. How could he? Why did he do it? Surely he knew this is too serious to be a prank._

_His train of thoughts was stopped when a black ball broke through his window. It unruffled, revealing a young 14/15 year old girl dressed in black top under a tan jacket, orange skirt and blue sandals. She had purple hair tied in a spiky ponytail and chocolate brown eyes. And she looked disturbed._

"_Old Man!" Anko almost yelled, "Is it true?" Is Naruto really wanted for treachery?"_

_The aged man rubbed his goatee in deep thoughts. Should he tell her? Come to think of it, Anko was Naruto childhood friend and the closest person he had. She was the first bond he ever made._

"_Unfortunately, Anko, everything says so." He said in sad tone, revealing how much it pained him to admit it. The young girl, in return, glared back._

"_You gotta be kidding me!" she yelled. "It couldn't be him!" Sarutobi gave her a curious look._

"_Anko! Do you know something?" he asked in stern voice, causing her to flinch. He made a hopeful face. "Anko, if you know something about this, it might save him. So please, tell me."_

_She wasn't sure if she could tell him. That was her little secret. On the other hand, the Third Hokage was known as the Professor and the God of Shinobi for being knowledgeable. The ANBU most likely have been telling him about this, so why not?_

"_Well, that's because, I happen to sometimes sneak into his apartment and I'm sure I saw him in his bed." She admitted. Sarutobi gave her a strange, yet funny look. He was quiet, until some blood dripped from his nose._

"_And why is someone underage sneaking into a 12-year-old's apartment in the first place?" he asked, thinking he embarrassed her. But he was surprised by her answer._

"_Because, as far as I remember, Naru's always coughing blood. His quite a fragile boy with weak constitution. So I sneak in to make sure his alright." She answered._

_The old kage was surprised. And embarrassed for having dirty thoughts about the kids. He recalled the medical reports on Naruto a few years back, which did mention that the blond had poor health and sometime he was coughing blood, as if he had __leukemia or internal bleeding. Then he checked the investigation reports. All mention finding some blood on the floor in the room. The analysis was still in progress, so he begged it wasn't Naruto's._

"_Tell me, Anko. Are you sure it was Naruto in the bed?" He asked carefully._

"_Definitely. I checked him with a pinch and it didn't poof. So it couldn't be a shadow clone." The purple haired girl answered. She saw a trace of hope on the hokage's face. Apparently, he just heard something that could clear the blond of charges._

Flashback end

The God of Shinobi looked forward, to find Team 7 finally standing before him. Well, Kakashi was still no where to find, until after a few more seconds…

*poof*

"Yo!"

"Kakashi! What's with the lateness?" the aged man demanded.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I was off to Naruto's apartment to see if, by any chance, he was there." The one-eyed ninja said seriously.

"And did you find anything?" hokage asked, only to see Kakashi shook his head. He sighed. "Very well then. Come with me to my office. I will debrief you on the way there." He ordered.

On the way to the office, Sarutobi explained the situation to the whole team. Kakashi couldn't believe his ears when he heard it, while Sasuke was surprised. Sakura commended that Naruto would eventually do something to get him arrested again, but she never would have expected him to do something like this. She was shocked to say the least. As they were entering the office, they noticed on open window and the paper sheets spread all over the desk. It was a mess, as if someone was quickly looking over the reports on the investigation.

"He was here." Hokage whispered, but loudly enough for Team 7 to hear him. Kakashi hazily ran over to the window and looked around. But he didn't see anyone. Either the kid escaped a little before they entered or was fast.

"Team!" he called getting everyone's attention. "You know the situation. Let's go! We're looking in Naruto's favorite spots at first! From there, will think on the next step. Stay in radio contact all time. Understood?"

"Yes, sensei!" both genins answered. Then the whole team jumped out through the window and split up.

* * *

Somewhere in the alleys of Konoha, Naruto was running. He soon found a save spot in the wall hole to hide and think. He was in the office. He read the reports. From what he managed to learn, everything said it was him. No! It couldn't be. How could this have happened? This was worst than what Mizuki pulled on him. How was he going to get out of this? He needed help. But who could he trust?

He heard footsteps.

Naruto took a peek from behind the wall and noticed Izo looking behind and in the trash cans, occasionally looking behind him. Than he noticed Naruto. The blond got scared for a second. He wanted to run, when he heard someone. Most likely an ANBU.

"Hey, Izo. Did ya find anything?" Naruto was sweating. He had only one way of escaping, and he didn't know if he would manage. He was so tired. With all the nerve and the drug still trying to affect him, he felt like he was running a marathon while wearing lid clothing in the summer heat.

"No. Still nothing." Izo answered. Naruto was surprised for a second, but when he heard the other ninja go away, he felt relieve. Than he saw Izo next to him, getting surprised.

"Whoa there, Naruto. I'm on your side." He said, trying to assure the blond. "I don't believe you did it."

"Doncha?" Naruto asked suspiciously. "How can I trust ya?"

"Because Anko went wild when she learned about 'your' thieving. Since she trusts you to be innocent, so will I." he said calmly. The blond relaxed a little. "Besides, how could you knock down four ANBU and break into the forbidden room so easily? It's a little out of place."

Naruto relaxed absolutely and took a deep breath.

"Thanks, Izo. But still, wha' do we do?" he asked.

"Well, the blood on the spot says it's you who broke in. but I suppose there is still a way to prove your innocence. Do you perhaps have any idea where the thief could hide what he stole?"

Naruto wondered for a second. He knew many hiding places within and outside Konoha, as he was constantly using them until he graduated from the academy. But if HE was to hide something very valuable, there were a drastic small numbers of these. But one seemed perfect.

"Yeah. I know one. But… if we go there, everyone will believe us to go there to take it and run."

"Not if we get there and wait for the thief to come for it." Izo explained. A simple plan really. Find where the thief hid his goods, as he most likely was still in the village to insure his safety, wait for him and catch him. "Once we catch the culprit, we can prove you're innocent." He gave the blond thumbs up. "So what say you?"

Naruto though about it for a second. Then he nodded.

And the two ran out.

Unknown to them, someone was watching them. A green-haired man specifically.

* * *

At the Hokage Tower, a big group of ninjas gathered around their leader. They couldn't find the blond anywhere. Most of them were outraged. Some were even talking about killing the blond as soon as they see him. The Third Hokage was furious.

"Enough!" he silenced everyone, getting their attention. "I will not hear any of this! Naruto is to be FOUND and BROUGHT here UNHARMED! This still stands!" he looked at Kakashi and his team. They all had sad looks. The aged man sighed. "Anyway, as the boy was still not found within the walls of our village, you are to search outside and…"

He was interrupted by two ANBU. One with the cat mask and the other with bird mask.

"Please forgive us the interruption, Lord Hokage, but we have argent news!" 'Cat' said. Old kage glared at her for a second, and then nodded, letting her know to continue. "Lord Niigetsu has found Naruto!" she said. Sarutobi widened his eyes hearing that.

"What? If he found him, then why hasn't he brought him yet?" he shouted.

"There's a situation taking place and Lord Niigetsu seeks to learn of it further!" 'Cat explained.

"And we have important news from the medical bureau. You should find it intriguing." 'Bird said handing en envelope to Hokage. When the Professor read it, he got a serious look on his face.

"Where are they now?"

* * *

Outside Konoha.

The two ran through the forest. It was a long way, until finally they reached a small clearing with a small waterfall and a few very small trees. In this place, one would feel like a giant. Naruto looked around to be certain no one was around.

"Is this it?" Izo asked, approaching the boy.

"Yeah, but somethin' is not quite right." The blond answered.

"What do you mean?" the older of the two asked, earning himself a strong elbow to the side of the face, sending him to the nearest tree. Naruto glared at him at first, then looked down at his feet and saw a kunai, though he didn't seem surprised. He looked back at the man.

"Why is the thief askin' me where I would hide his prize?" Naruto growled. Izo just looked at him, smiling.

"What gave me away?"

"The blood. Ya said the blood at the crime scene was mine. But here's somethin' ya didn't know: I managed to get into the office and read the reports. The blood was still in analysis. So how could ya it was mine, unless you poured it."

Izo looked at him amazed. Mentally he hit himself. Of course. The kid was perceptive, despite his stupidity. And clearly he saw the blond as the bigger fool than he actually was.

"Well, if you knew it was me, than why didn't you just sell me out?" Izo shouted.

"'Cause I wouldn't be able to do anythin' fast enough. Ya woulda just killed me right on the spot. Besides, by letting me to drag ya all the way 'ere, just proves that ya have wha' ya stole with ya. I am merely a scapegoat of yours. Right?"

Izo glared at the boy. Now you could clearly see the hatred within his eyes. He stood up, eying him.

"Well, I was gonna kill you here, making everyone believe you came to collect the mask you took. But as you were about to go, I found you. You attacked me and left me no choice but to kill you. After that, the Hokage would have put the fake mask back to the forbidden room, while I would've left the village safely. A perfect plan. Don't you agree?" He noticed the blond glaring at him. "But I gotta say… you're smarter than I thought."

At the sound of that, Naruto's head was covered in veins and his eyes were completely blank and perfectly round.

"Hey!" he yelled, "Just because I'm not the brightest, doesn't mean I'm brainless, you…!"

He didn't get to finish, as Izo pulled out a scroll and unrolled it script towards the blond. He let go of it and ran through a five-hand-seal sequence.

"Sealing Art: Fire Style: Fire Blast!" he called and a powerful blast of fire shot towards Naruto. The blond managed to dodge it, though his upper clothing got damaged. Naruto wanted to do the Shadow Clone Jutsu, but was interrupted when the kunais pinned him to the ground.

"Did you really think you can beat me, brat. You're just a genin. And I am a jonin." Izo pulled out a tantou and prepared to deliver the death blow. "Time to die, demon." Naruto's eyes widened. It was over.

But as the treacherous ninja was about to kill the blond, his senses kicked in. He substituted himself with a log just in time, as it was stabbed with a katana coming out of the shadow.

'_That jutsu…_' he though. He kept his eyes on the log's shadow, from which, as if from water, a man with green hair came out.

"As I thought." Izo whispered.

"Shadow dude Yamamoto." Naruto called full heartily surprised, as the man removed the kunais. "Why are you here?"

Yamamoto chuckle. "Well now, am I to assume you'd rather be killed by this treacherous rat?" he said, pointing his sword at Izo. Naruto shook his head with a smile.

"No. I'm just glad someone believed my innocence." The boy answered with joy. The man once again came to his rescue. His clan was always there to back him up on things ordinary people or a handful of friendlier ninja were pushed aside. And now, again, they were with him.

"Ha. Like he actually saved you from death, punk." Izo laughed, reaching for his pouch. And he pulled out a wooden mask with no holes. The only unusual feature of the mask was a vertical black stripe going from the top of the mask down to the height of a lower lip. Yamamoto flinched at the sight of it.

"That's… don't be stupid, Izo!" the head of Niigetsu clan shouted. "That mask will kill you before you get its power!"

"That mask? What is that mask?" Naruto asked.

"The Mask of Jubokko." Izo said proudly. "That mask will enhance my abilities at least tenfold once I'll put it on."

"That thing shall bring you nothing but misery." Yamamoto explained. "That thing has been declared a forbidden relic for it shall devour all your chakra within minutes after you put it on. And you shall not be able to take it off until you die. It is impossible to use."

"You're wrong, Niigetsu. This power can be controlled. You just need to know HOW it works." Izo paused as put the mask on his face. "And it just happens…" he paused again, as he started to scream in agonizing pain. His body was twitching, but if you could take a closer look, you would see the mask 'growing' it's 'roots' into his face. His hair once straight and falling to the sides of his head became spiky, growing backwards. The pink hair turned silver, while the black turned bright red. Looking on the right forearm, a yellow eye-like feature appeared.

Finally, his body stopped. He rose up and faced the two Leaf-nins before him. He began to chuckle, as a visible aura, similar to yellow flames, surrounded him.

"I know its secrets. Now, originally I was gonna kill just the kid, but since you know everything, Niigetsu, I have to kill you too. Let's go."

His chakra drastically spiked. Yamamoto couldn't believe what he sensed. This guy before him was extremely famous for being a brilliant fighter despite poor chakra reserves. And now, with this mask on, his chakra was on par with a kage. This was going to be a tough fight.

Naruto didn't believe it. Izo was releasing so much chakra that even the grass within 2 m radius seemed to burn down. This guy was now a monster.

Izo ran through a hand seal sequence and called: "Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet!" and four dragon head made of dirt rose. Each opened its mouth and all begun to shoot.

"What the…? This can't be!" Yamamoto was stunned. But he managed to get a grip ran through a hand seal sequence himself.

"Hidden Shadow Assassination Cloak!" he caught Naruto by a shoulder and both dived into the shadow just before the projectiles hit them. As they appeared again, they were hit with something hard. Yamamoto could feel his arm and leg broken. Naruto tried to help him, but he heard Izo call another jutsu.

"This ends now. Earth Style: Avalanche!" he slammed his fists into the ground and a big of rocks and sand began to move towards them. Naruto was stunned, while Yamamoto, as much as disbelieving as Naruto, was actually mad he couldn't do anything now. The big wave was about to smash them. But…

"Earth Style: Earth Wall!"

Before the two a big wall make of solid stone grew and shielded them from the attack. Naruto looked up to see their saviors. His was happy in surprise.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"Stay down, Naruto." Kakashi said seriously, eying the enemy.

"We'll deal with this fool." Said another voice. Yamamoto smirked, as he would recognize this voice anywhere.

It was Nakokage Kuromaru. He and Kakashi stood next to the blond and the shadow user, ready to fight.

But Izo just stood there. Unfazed. He looked around to see the area around him completely burned and jumped to him left, landing about half a meter away from the river, his aura, which seemed to be dying a second ago, was now bright again.

"You won't be able to defeat me, Kakashi." He said. "With this mask on I'm even stronger than you!"

To be continued…

* * *

Omake

Sasuke was sitting in the library, reading some random book just to kill time, when Naruto came.

"Hey, Sasuke!" he called.

"What to you want, Naruto?" the Uchiha asked.

"Well… since the previous chapter, some 'Mask of Jubokku' was mentioned. And I wondered, what's that?"

Sasuke sighed and closed his book. Then, he faced the blond and began to explain.

"Jubokku, in Japanese mythology, is a vampire tree, which tends to feed on human blood. It is said to grow near the place of carnage or battlefields where so much human blood was shed on the ground that it was sucked up in great quantities by the roots of certain trees. It has pretty much the same powers as any vampire, such as regeneration, but is still limited by its nature as a tree. Get it?"

To Sasuke's surprise, Naruto was laying unconscious with some smoke coming out of his ears. The Uchiha gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"Get up, idiot. A jubokku is coming to eat you!" he shouted to Naruto's ear, causing the blond to yell in panic and run out like a mad man yelling "Help! A jubokku is goin' to eat me!"

Sasuke shook his head and returned to his lecture, when Sakura entered.

"Say, Sasuke. Wouldn't you happen to know what a jubokku is?" she asked. The Uchiha sighed in irritation.

Omake end


	14. Chapter 13 The verdict

**Previously on Storm God Naruto…**

"_This ends now. __Earth Style: Avalanche!__" he slammed his fists into the ground and a big wave of rocks and sand began to move towards them. Naruto was stunned, while Yamamoto, as much as disbelieving as Naruto, was actually mad he couldn't do anything now. The big wave was about to smash them. But…_

"_Earth Style: Earth Wall!__"_

_Before the two a big wall make of solid stone grew and shielded them from the attack. Naruto looked up to see their saviors. His was happy in surprise._

"_Kakashi-sensei!"_

"_Stay down, Naruto." Kakashi said seriously, eying the enemy._

"_We'll deal with this fool." Said another voice. Yamamoto smirked, as he would recognize this voice anywhere._

_It was Nekokage Kuromaru. He and Kakashi stood next to the blond and the shadow user, ready to fight._

_But Izo just stood there. Unfazed. He looked around to see the area around him completely burned and jumped to him left, landing about half a meter away from the river, his aura, which seemed to be dying a second ago, was now bright again._

"_You won't be able to defeat me, Kakashi." He said. "With this mask on I'm even stronger than you!"

* * *

_

Chapter 13

The verdict

Izo's chakra spiked again. It was impressive as well as horrifying. So much chakra that it burned everything around him. Kakashi and Kuromaru stood ready to engage him in a fight, while Izo stood there calmly. Naruto eyed the treacherous bastard, mad he fooled him. But something else about him seemed off. That aura specifically. It looked like he was on fire, yet only the surrounding seemed to burn. Is this why the mask was called forbidden?

"Naruto!" Kakashi caught the blonde's attention. "You must take Lord Niigetsu out of here! It's too dangerous here!" the silver-haired jonin ordered. If only he looked back, he would have noticed a vein popping out on the shadow user's head.

"Are you saying I'm no good to sport a fight, Hatake?" Yamamoto yelled in frustration.

"I'm sorry to say this but yes. You have a broken arm and most likely a leg as well. You're in no condition to put up a fight."

"Nonsense! I can beat this guy with a finger! And I can even sta…!" the green haired man tried to get up, when suddenly his right leg shivered and bended in an unnatural ankle, forcing the man to let the tears come out. "AAAARGH! WHAT'S WITH THE DAMN PAIN! SH**, THAT REALLY FU****G HURTS!"

Kakashi, Kuromaru and Naruto sweat dropped at the situation.

"Typical Niigetsu clan member." Kuromaru commented with the smirk. "Their wise beyond their age yet cocky or stubborn like idiots. Kid! You may wanna take the fool now!"

"Don't even think about sending me away! If you think I'm missing this fight, you've got another thing co…!"

Yamamoto has been butt headed by Kakashi. The jonin didn't truly like the idea of doing this, yet it DID silence the Niigetsu clan head.

"Alright, kiddy. I suppose you can go now." Jonin sensei said, revealing his sharingan eye. Then he ran through a five-hand-seal sequence and slammed his hand to the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu!" there was a poof of smoke and a large dog wearing a blue jacket and a spiked collar appeared. "Help Naruto take Lord Niigetsu out of here!" he ordered. Yamamoto was placed on the dogs back and it started to run with the blond at its side.

Izo looked amused, if you could tell that from his body language. Because with the mask on he had no face. He walked to other spot, which also began to seemingly burn.

"Are you done yet?" he asked calmly, getting two Leaf-nins' attention. "You don't think they'll be able to get far, do you? That demon brat is being slowed down by that geezer."

"So that's what it's all about. You hate him and found yourself a perfect way to get rid of him." Kakashi shared his observation.

"Not really. This never was about the Fox. To be blunt, I have no doubt the Fourth imprisoned that thing well, without risking the boy's life. I just used what you reported about him using the Nine-tails' chakra to frame him and get my hands on this mask." He pointed at what he had on his face right now. Then he pointed at them. "Oh well, I may not get to kill the demon brat, but at least I'll get to kill two of Konoha's strongest shinobis. Hatake Kakashi, the Copy-cat Ninja and Nekokage Kuromaru, the Brute of the Leaf."

Izo made a single hand seal. His chakra spiked slightly.

"Water Style: Water Bullet!" he called. Surprisingly, instead of a single ball sized bullet there was a barrage of melon-sized missiles. The two Leaf-nins kept dodging the barrage at best of their abilities. Luckily, when it passed, they only had their clothes shredded in several places.

"Dammit! This guy, ever since he put on that blasted mask on, can easily change low rank jutsus into high ranks!" Kuromaru cursed under his nose. And Kakashi seemed to have the same thoughts.

"This'll be bad. On the other hand we finally get to have some real fight." The silver-haired jonin said.

"Don't be so quick to judge, you sloth! This guy ain't gonna just stand there and let us throw at him what we've got."

Izo stared at them while jumping away. He was wondering why they haven't done anything so far. Not that he didn't know. But he was expecting them to be on offensive by now. He was so eager to test his new found power against them, yet they kept their distance. Most likely they knew that it wouldn't be easy to just dash at him. He smirked under the mask, as he looked at the eye-shaped mark that formed on his forearm. It was glowing purple/blue. He could easily go into offensive himself.

"Since you can't decide whether to attack me or not, I'll make you go into defense." The traitor said. He ran through a sequence of hand-seals. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" He blew a massive fire stream resembling a dragon, which quickly turned into six, bigger dragons. The jutsu hit the target. Or so Izo thought. Therefore his annoyed look when he saw it was two logs burning in the place of two Leaf-nins. He looked around and finally spotted them. Both finishing a hand-seals sequence of their own.

"Lightening Style: Hunting Beast!" Kakashi called out.

"Weapon Arts: Death Field!" Kuromaru followed his comrade.

Kakashi's left hand was instantly covert with electric charge. As he pointed at his opponent, the charge launched forward, forming a wolf made of pure electricity. Meanwhile Kuromaru slammed his kunai into the ground and soon the space between him and Izo was filling with blades. The mask wearer jumped sideways, evading the bold jonin's jutsu, only to face the silver-hair's attack. Kakashi was mentally smirking, until he saw something unexpected. His jutsu, once it touched the "chakra flame" Izo was covered in, seemed to burn immediately. Both Leaf-nins were surprised. Kakashi was the first to break out of the shock.

"I can't believe it. That flame burns even jutsus."

"Not quite." His comrade spoke, catching the one-eyed jonin's attention. "You did notice he only evaded my attack. So he must be burning only ninjutsu and chakra-only jutsu. Therefore I suggest somethin' more physical." Hatake nodded in agreement, as he understood what Kuromaru was up to. He even understood he wasn't talking about engaging their enemy in pure taijutsu as they still didn't know if that 'flame' wouldn't harm them as well. "I'll go right and low. You go left and high."

The two launched. Kakashi pulled out his kunai and seemed ready to throw it. Meanwhile, Kuromaru reached for the scroll, unrolled it and unsealed a bow and quiver filled with arrows. He quickly put the arrow container on his back, took one arrow out and set for a shot. When both ninjas reached their positions, where Izo was between them, they attacked. Their respective projectiles seemed to perfectly reach the target, when a stream of red, glowing liquid suddenly hit them. The bald ninja was shocked, as well as the one-eyed. Izo looked at them both.

"Did you really think you can take me out with such a pathetic strategy?" he asked them, earning their glares. Then he began to run through a strange, unfamiliar hand-seal sequence. "Not like it matters. But since you are the elite, allow me to show you two my little experiment jutsu. As you know, normally I don't have any more chakra than an average academy student. But with this mask on I can easily use THIS jutsu. " He finished the sequence and slammed his right hand into the ground. "Earth Fire Fusion: Spirit of the Volcano!" Kakashi and his comrade watched in awe as the dirt began to scorch and then burn into volcanic rock. As if it was a genjutsu, what ground burned, began to rise, as if forming a volcano. But as soon as it grew an ape-like arm, the two shinobis became nervous. After all, Izo was know as the greatest chakra manipulator, who could do a number of jutsus, which required more chakra than he could afford, by storing some beforehand or channeling smaller amounts at the start.

And now, he was performing his greatest jutsu.

* * *

**Meanwhile…**

Naruto and the summoned dog, that was carrying Yamamoto, kept running. Their path clear, but the blond didn't seem focused on it. No. His mind was someplace else. He was worried about his sensei. He kept repeating to himself Kakashi's mantra: 'those who disobey orders are trash. But those who abandon their comrades are even worse.' And right now he felt like that. He knew he was to run with Niigetsu clan head. He knew that he was to get out of there. But he felt it was wrong.

His train of thoughts stopped when he heard a very familiar voice.

"You should focus, Naruto." The spiky-haired genin turned to face now conscious Yamamoto, who let the dog know to stop. "We don't know if Izo doesn't have a partner. So letting your guard down while running is the worst thing to do."

"I know." Naruto answered. His face said how troubled he was. "But… Is it right to leave Kakashi-sensei and Kuromaru-sensei to fight on their own? That guy is right now so strong that… I know Kakashi-sensei gave the order, but it feels like leavin' him for death."

"Naruto. There is a saying in this world. 'A good shinobi follows his orders without questions. But a wise shinobi always listens to judgment and does the right thing'. Remember that, as you will often find yourself in such situation where your actions will determine the outcome."

Naruto looked down as if the man's words only made it harder for the blond. "This is not what bothers you, is it?" the green-haired man asked.

"It's just that… well… I dunno. How am I supposed to know that I made the right choice?"

"There is know shame in not knowing, Naruto, as there is no shame in asking around for help. In time, you will learn…" he stopped, as he saw the blonde's changed expression. Uzumaki looked like he suddenly remembered something. "Something wrong, Naruto?"

"I wonder. Say, Shadow Dude Yamamoto, mind tellin' me more 'bout that mask?"

* * *

**Back on the battlefield****…**

Both Kuromaru and Kakashi hid behind a large boulder as a huge stream of fire hit. They were shocked to see it melting like ice cube in the oven. Luckily, the jutsu stopped. They took another look at their opponent. Izo was standing on a 5 m high lizard-like beast made of magma. It had ape arms and a crocodile head. It seemed to be drooling, although lava was coming out in a place of saliva. And the beast was growing out of dirt. Izo was smiling.

"So, Kakashi, Kuromaru, how do you find my perfect jutsu?" he asked them, ready to cast another jutsu. "My Volcanic Style is just perfect. It cannot be blocked easily. Its power is destructive. And with this creature I summoned, not only do I have access to it but I can save more chakra than if I were to use it. I AM INVINCIBLE!"

"You may have created a way to use advanced elemental jutsus by creating a summon/ elemental chakra hybrid, but without it your weak." Kakashi said loudly, reaching for his kunai pouch. But he never made it.

"Volcanic Style: Sulphur Stream!" the beast's mouth opened wide, and a huge yellow stream shot towards the one-eyed jonin. Hatake managed to evade the attack just in time and threw a set of kunai towards the mask wearer. But his magma beast rose and took the kunais to its head. Kakashi mentally cursed. But then…

"Volcanic Style: Fire Rock Rain!" the traitor called, making the beast raise its head towards the sky. Then from its mouth fire balls began to fly. Kakashi and his bold comrade hid behind an earth wall just in time. They were both wondering how long they will endure this. Kuromaru recalled how he and Izo meet a few years back.

He clearly remembered how skillful his former comrade was. Izo didn't have as much chakra as any other shinobi. But he made that up with incredible tactical thinking, knowledge and handiwork. That was one of the rare cases of a ninja who would put aside any use of his chakra for physical and mental approach. He always found a way to surprise his enemies and outmaneuver them. He always knew how a jutsu works and took advantage of it. He always was good in close combat. Kuromaru had even commented once that if Izo was to have as much chakra as any other shinobi, he would most likely be fighting on a kage level of power.

And how right he was.

Kuromaru and Kakashi were both thinking on how to overpower someone like Izo. But before they could share their observations, their wall has fallen. They both were half buried under the rubble and could only see as the mask wearer was finishing another set of hand seals.

"I'll finish you two right now." He said, watching as his two preys tried to get out from the rubble. But he would not let them. "Volcanic Style: Liquid Fire Pool!" and the beast 'barfed' more lava from its mouth. Before the two jonins saw it, there was already a big wave of it coming towards them. They wanted to escape, but Izo was ready for them to do the Substitution jutsu. This was their end.

Or at least that's what they thought. Suddenly a smoke bomb exploded between them and the incoming lava. The mask wearer was surprised and immediately launched his fire jutsu. But after the lava fell, there was nothing. Izo was on his guard. He didn't know whether he hit them or not. And he wasn't stupid enough to take the chance.

If he was to look deeper, he would notice his two enemies deeper in the taller trees taking their breath. They were both bruised, had their vests destroyed and some shreds on the suit. Kakashi's mask was barely holding on its position, while Kuromaru's right leg was smashed. They both took a look at their savior. Sure enough, it was the one person the silver-haired ninja did expect- Naruto.

"Well done, Naruto." Kakashi praised the boy, a bit quiet as to not attract Izo attention and yet loud enough for the kid to hear. "You actually did master the Smoke Screen Jutsu. I must say I'm proud of you."

And indeed he was. The Smoke Screen Jutsu wasn't a powerful jutsu, but it did have quite feet which made it a handful one. For starters, it had a need for a smoke bomb or an explosive tag, which helps save some chakra. Secondly, it required little chakra control, which made it better for Naruto to learn and use. Although, the 'tree walking' exercise sure was a big help. Thirdly, it was a good jutsu for one of three uses: shield, confusion or Substitution. However the Substitution part was special, since it looks like Body Flicker Jutsu.

The complication of this jutsu was to perform it using the smoke as the conduit. But for Naruto to perform it on others was a sign of mastering the advanced level. Mentally, Kakashi was beyond impressed. He never actually thought the blond genin would be able to perform that jutsu perfect. But judging by his hard breathing, Naruto simply was lucky. He performed it on the two jounins not knowing if it would succeed.

"Ya know what, Kakashi-sensei? This jutsu rather sucks." The blond said. In his opinion, it's better to just perform substitution. The one-eyed ninja chuckle at the comment. Then he got serious.

"I thought I told you to go with…"

"I know what I was told!" Naruto cut his sensei off, with a stern voice, surprising him. "But I couldn't just leave ya fightin' someone like him. Besides… that guy dragged me into it, so I also have a reason to take him down."

Kakashi eyed his knuckleheaded student. "Naruto. I'm afraid this fight is out of your league. So you'd better roll your tail and run."

"But I think I know how ta take him down." Now that really got Team 7's leader's attention. "Do you know why that mask killed its first wearer?" Kakashi and Kuromaru shook their heads. The blond continued. "Well, you must have at least noticed he keeps movin' from place to place after it has 'burned' down by that flame of his." Now they nodded. "That's 'cause it's not a shield of flame. It's a shield that devours chakra. That mask drains chakra from everythin' 'round it!"

"That explains why Kakashi's ninjutsu dispersed after it made contact with it. It was absorbed." Kuromaru explained. "But that means…"

"The first wearer died because it also feeds on the one who wears it." The silver-haired Leaf-nin continued. "But how come Izo is unharmed by it? He just seems stronger."

"Maybe he's absorbed enough chakra to secure himself." The bold ninja stated. Kakashi had to agree with that idea. It just seemed logical. Then they noticed Izo jumping off the creature and digging his fingers into a huge tree near by. It sure was drying up fast. And it was dying. There they saw it… a weak spot. He needed to feed sometime. "Anybody has a plan for this bozo?" he asked, getting the answer from Kakashi.

"That feature on his arm seems to show how much chakra he has. So all we need to do is keep him from feeding. The question is 'how?'"

"I may have an idea…" the blond replied grinning like a fox. His sensei and Kuromaru sure were happy to see it.

He finally let go of the third tree he was draining chakra off. He looked at his feature and smiled seeing he had enough for a long time. '_Now that that's settled, where are those two pests?_' he thought. He looked around again. While jumping back on his summon. The moment he landed, a kunai flew by his side. No, it wasn't because of a bad aim. He dodged it just in time. Izo looked towards where the kunai came from, and found a certain mass of blond hair ready to throw another one. He gestured his finger and the beast shot a stream of fire at the enemy. '_Bad choice, demon-brat. You should've run away when ordered._' He smirked, when his senses warned him. He mentally ordered his summon to raise its arm. Just in time, it blocked the upcoming rain of shurikens, which immediately melted. The mask-wearing traitor ran through a sequence of hand seals, aiming at Kakashi, who hid within the small trees. "Volcanic Style: Heat Stream!" a stream of white light came out of the summons mouth and upon contact with the tree fire erupted, burning everything.

Luckily, Kakashi managed to dodge.

He was almost caught in mid air by the beast's arm, when it had to deflect a rain of kunais from Naruto. When they fell, they exploded. This started to irritate the creator of the volcanic style. Every time he prepared to kill one, the other attacked. After a few more attacks like this, he lost his patience.

"ENOUGH!" Izo shouted in pure fury, "I WILL DESTROY YOU BOTH IN ONE ATTACK!" So he ran through a sequence of 15 hand seals, ending on a strange seal of two fists. "VOLCANIC STYLE: SCORTCHING WASTELAND!"

The beast seemed to curl, starting to glow more intensively. Both members of Team 7 could tell it couldn't be anything good. They gave each other a look, and then ran off. They couldn't tell what was going on. What this jutsu was going to do. But they wouldn't risk it.

Finally, the beast straightened, quickly, releasing a massive wave of heat, burning everything. You could even see flames on the rocks, as if they were paper. The two Leaf-nins kept running, hoping to get away. However, it didn't seem like the wave would stop. Both of them wished it was all just a bad dream. But it was worse. It was reality.

And it reached them. They both screamed it agony as their flesh was burning, leaving nothing but skeletons. Finally, the jutsu dispersed. And Izo was happily looking at his preys. But his smile quickly disappeared when the skeletons turned into logs.

"What? It can't be! How?"

"Well… you underestimated us and overestimated yourself." a simple answer came. Izo looked to the right and saw Naruto and Kakashi. They have survived, but apparently they did take some damage. They were both sweating and had some burns on their clothes. Kakashi especially looked fatigued. Clearly he used a jutsu that forced him to maintain it turing the blast of intense heat.

"You may be right, Copycat. But now your in no shape to fight me." The beast raised its arms, ready to smash them. But when it exposed its belly, an arrow hit it. Both the traitor and his summon looked at it. Then they heard it.

"Weapon Arts: Sniper Bang!" The arrow began to glow. Its light getting more and more intense, until finally it exploded with ridiculous force, taking the beast down and sending Izo flying into the pond. The two ninjas looked where the arrow came from and saw their comrade walking towards them, as if his leg wasn't damaged at all.

"Kuromaru. You really shouldn't be moving." Kakashi suggested.

"Be grateful I got rid of that thing before it pummeled you two into the ground." He answered him, clearly not caring about his injury. After all, he was tolerant of pain. He had to be. A fighter giving into the pain was not strong enough to fight in his opinion. Plus, it made him one of the strongest and most feared shinobi in his village.

Then it came. Izo jumped out of the pond, furious and ready to cast another jutsu.

"Volcanic Style: Demon Arm!" He hit the ground and his entire left arm was covert in volcanic stone. When he raised his head, the three Leaf-nins felt troubled. The mask cracked on the mouth height, and now there was a mouth. When the mouth opened, they saw tiny teeth and four, ridiculously long fangs. He was now like a blood sucker.

Izo dashed at them, wanting to smash them. They kept dodging, until Kakashi got hit in the side. The pain was much worse due to the heat. Naruto tried to surprise attack him, but only got kicked in the face and send flying. Kuromaru kept shooting from his bow, but he couldn't keep up with the mask wearer finally got hit in the gut. Izo was walking towards him. Kakashi saw it and it troubled him deeply. He wanted to help his comrade, but he couldn't move. He was in too much pain. He kept yelling mentally to move. But his body wouldn't obey. Izo was so close, if he made two more steps, he would suck bulk shinobi's chakra by standing next to him. One more step. Was this it? Why haven't the hokage or anyone else arrived yet?

Then there was a sound of a punch.

Kakashi looked up only to see Izo flying over him. What happened? He looked to find Kuromaru burn. No, it was a Detonation Shadow Clone. Kakashi eye-smiled seeing this. The guy sure loved playing with his enemies. But now he was more fatigued. That's why he became a weapons master. For some strange reason, ninjutsu had a bad drawback on him. It wasn't a poor chakra control. It was something else.

Izo stood up. Angry they played him like this. Now he had enough. He jumped towards them, ready to just punch them to death. The two jounins wouldn't be able to dodge this time. Izo had them now.

Or so he thought. Before he could land a punch, he was kicked away. The two saw who did it and couldn't believe it. Naruto stood before them as if nothing happened. But they both noticed something was different about him. He looked like in a trans. And the birthmark on his shoulder was glowing blue. Izo didn't care about it. He just wanted this to end. He wanted them to die already. He dashed with the intent to smash the blonde's head. But when he was about to deliver the punch, the genin caught it. He caught it just like a master martial artist catches the apprentice's first attempted blow. How was that even possible? All three adults were at awe. They could understand the dodge, the block or parrying. But he caught it.

Then Izo smiled. The blond idiot forgot that as long as he carries the mask, he can suck chakra from anything in the 2 meter distance. But the blond only hardened his grip, literally digging his fingers in the stone hand. The traitor was caught off guard. '_What is he doing?_' he thought. Then he pulled back his free hand and delivered the blow. But the blond caught it as well. Then he began to crush it. Izo cried in pain. How could that kid have enough strength to break his hand like match sticks. But he began to chuckle.

"You really think you're winning? You're forgetting I'm sucking your chakra as long as I wear this mask. And by touching you it's even more deadly for you." He said. The sick smile told the two jounins to move and save their genin student. But something troubled them so badly that they weren't moving.

Naruto didn't seem touched by the threat. He just smiled.

"Just how much chakra have you got left?" he just asked. Izo didn't quite understand, until he saw his mark on his arm. It was turning black. He began to panic. "That's right, foul soul. Your power is meaningless if it can't affect me. You're nothing but a worm that seeks power through deception and murder." Then the blond delivered a kick to the face, sending Izo a few meters away. When the traitor collected himself, he looked around. He couldn't feed on the boy. He had to feed on something else. But there was nothing to feed on. All plant life and all the animals were burned. There were only the three Leaf-nins. So he Body Flickered next to them. But he was immediately kicked away. He wanted to get up, but suddenly he felt terrible pain. He knew right away what was happening.

The mask started to feed on him.

Izo quickly ran through a sequence of three hand seals and stabbed his fingers in the strip on the mask. It began to take its roots out of his face, fixing the 'mouth, while the wearer's body was returning to it's original form. The Mask of Jubokko finally fell off. Izo was breathing hard and then glared at the boy. Naruto just kept standing there, ready to attack. Then his expression loosened and the boy fell unconscious. This was his chance. He stood up and walked towards the genin, pulling out a kunai. But when he was just a step away he found himself restrained by an ANBU squad. He cursed under his breath.

"Kakashi! Kuromaru!" Someone cried. It was Lord Third Hokage. The aged man ran over to them with a few more ANBU. They looked at them, while he walked over to the boy. He looked the silver-haired jounin and gave him a warm reassuring smile. "He's exhausted. But he'll be fine." Kakashi nodded in relief.

* * *

A few weeks past since that fight. Naruto was cleared of all charges against him. And he happily returned to the team. Surprisingly, Sakura even apologized for believing his guilt. She felt ashamed of antagonizing him and for the first time warmed up to him, treating him like a friend. Anko however scolded him at first for his run away. Still, she couldn't help but hug him when he came out of the council room cleared.

Kakashi continued pushing his team, despite being still in bandages. He was happy to see his team making drastic progress in teamwork. As if Izo's treachery was the push they needed. But what troubled him was what Naruto did on that day. That wasn't the Fox's power. It felt… pure. Still it couldn't be the blonde prankster's own doing. It was WAY beyond his current level. Plus his immunity to the mask's ability. But when he asked him about it, the blonde couldn't remember anything since he was kicked. This could leave Kakashi with only one possible option- the second, secret containment of which only he and Lord Third knew. Was this his power?

Mentally, he wished he could leave Naruto's speech. The prankster's street-punk-way of talking was annoying for him.

But he couldn't worry about that now. He had to prepare his genins for their greatest challenge soon to come. The Chunin Exams will begin in a few days.

END

* * *

Hope you all liked it. Coming next- the Chunin Exams Arc.


	15. Chapter 14 The Chunin Exams part 1

Okay, before we start, I want to explain certain things.

Naruto and Kakashi's accents: I wanted them to sound more original. Seeing as Kakashi is always so stoic, and I like Ducky from 'NCIS', I thought he might be funnier. As for Naruto, I want him to be more of a punk from the street.

Volcanic Style: It's different from Magma Style. If I recall correctly, the advanced elemental release can be achieved only through kekkei genkai. Izo doesn't have it. His simply the master of chakra manipulation and can perform AER through it. But because it uses more chakra than if he were to have a kekkei genkai, he uses a special conduit. In his case it's a summon/volcano hybrid.

Anko: Show some patience. I can tell you I'll explain some things about her.

Now. Let's. Get. This. Party. STARTED!

* * *

**Chapter 14**

**Chunin Exams****- part 1**

**The ****preparations**

At noon the day was exceptionally hot. The heat was not so often for the people of Konoha. This merely meant it was the middle of the summer, as it would always be this hot on that day and only on that day. Completely clear sky, no breeze and having to train just made that day more tiring for Team 7.

Kakashi always had a look and the attitude of a sloth. But he still proofed to be a great ninja if not the best. Not right now he was busy training his genins. And since it was a heat, He found it would be best to toughen their spirits. So he gave them all some real push.

Sasuke had to beat him using nothing but his sharingan and taijutsu. That way he would learn to control the sharingan and get used to it. It was hard of course, since Kakashi kept hitting with jutsu after jutsu, while Sasuke could barely follow. For him, it was as if the world suddenly slowed down, got covered in a fog, then back to normal. The problem was his body didn't seem to get used to his new perception.

Sakura's training was all about improving her stamina. Her chakra control was excellent, but she would easily wear out. So sensei had her do nothing but the physical training. And this was hard since she could hardly even focus every time her brunette teammate got into view. That and… well… Kakashi clearly overestimated her physique, almost breaking her body with the boulder.

Naruto was a little more challenging than he thought. The problem was he simply used more chakra than necessary. Yet the one-eyed jounin couldn't keep the blond at that exercise. The other problem was if he were to have him spar with the others, he had no doubt that he would sooner harm his teammates than learn how to fight. So he had Naruto train to control his strength. Oh how surprised he was to see the knucklehead crush a cup as soon as was to pick it up casually. It even caused the silver-haired Leaf-nin to slap his own face when he saw his student throw the stone into sky while he was supposed to throw it over 4 meter high tree. The kid had no sense of how much strength to use at all.

When the training was done, all three genins took a walk down the street along the river. They were tiring, aching, sweating and… well, what do you expect them to be like? Happy? Hell no. They were mad. At their sensei at least. Who at their right mind makes people train harder in the heat? Was their sensei trying to get them killed? That or he found them fat? Either way, they were glad to be called off.

"Damn it. Kakashi-sensei was actually pushin' us today like mad. Did we insult 'im or wha'?" Naruto asked out loud, earning the glares.

"What are you talking about, idiot?" Sakura asked with the sign of irritation in her voice. "You had it easy today."

'And we so did not get sensei bad side!' the Inner-Sakura yelled.

"Easy? You say I had it easy? I couldn't even catch an egg without smashing it." The blond talked back. Before Sakura could say anything, their other teammate spoke.

"Let it go, Sakura. I'm sure Kakashi had a reason to give Naruto this kind of training. Even if it looked lame."

"Yeah. You're totally right. So listen, Sasuke, about the training… maybe… We… I mean you and me…" The pink-haired kunoichi tried to speak, blushing like mad.

"You should think more about yourself. Face it, if you were to train as much as you try to flirt, you would be a better asset to this team." the Uchiha didn't see it, but his words shocked her. If you could see her inner persona now, it would be now crushed. "You may have the brains, but you have nothing practical to offer to the team. Face it- Naruto may be an idiot and a dead-last, but he's a far better ninja than you." Now Sakura really looked bad. As if someone really threw a boulder on her.

That's because it was true. Ever since they became a team, Naruto was progressing. And since the mission in Wave, he was superior to her in skill. She had no doubt she could beat him intellectually, but that wasn't enough in the fight.

Now she was depressed. And while Sasuke kept walking, Naruto stayed, trying to comfort her. She was ready to pummel him, but he kept his distance, remembering how she rejected his date offer the final time. Sakura remembered that when she saw him take a defensive pose, and immediately relaxed. She knew she went too far back then. So she just turned around and started to walk away. Naruto slowly started to follow her, but stopped after a few steps, feeling that something felt wrong. He turned around and noticed a big box following them. Sakura gave a stupefied look to his teammate, feeling he knew exactly what that was.

"Konohamaru! Even I can tell you: THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A SQUARE ROCK!" the blond shouted. Then, the 'rock' exploded into smoke, revealing the well known Sarutobi kid and two others, whom Naruto did not know.

"Ha! You're still as sharp as ever, bro!" Konohamaru said, not hiding his enthusiasm. "Meet my squadron!"

First to speak was a boy with short, light brown hair, big glasses, snot coming from his nose and a sleepy expression. He was wearing a blue shirt, grey shorts and blue shinobi sandals. "My name is Udon. The most intelligent student this year."

"I'm Moegi. The top kunoichi student." Said the girl. She had orange hair tied up, with red elastics, into two very large pigtails. She also had red oval markings on her cheeks. She wore a red tank-top over a pink t-shirt layered at the bottom. Her pants were grey and she wore the traditional ninja sandals.

"And the three of us form the 'Konohamaru Squadron'!" the hokage's grandson said cheerfully. There was an uncomfortable silence when he finished. Naruto started to walk away.

"Okay… that was lame." He stated before he made the first step. The young brunette had a vein on his fore head, as this reminded him of how the blond rejected to teach him. What is this supposed to be? A running gag?

"Bro! You're not getting away with it! You promised to play ninjas with us! Remember?"

"Ninjas playing ninja? Are you serious?" a question came from none other than Sakura herself, letting everyone know of her presence. Oh, wait. She was here all along. The young kids eyed her carefully, giving her the creeps. "What?"

"Bro! Is that your chick?"

Naruto just gave an uneasy look. Then answered. "No way, man."

"But, damn, she's got a big forehead." Konohamaru just made a mistake.

Sakura suddenly looked like a wild beast, ready to kill anything in sight. The kids got so scared of her they started running. But she followed them. Sakura was so going to kill them. Naruto, who was left behind, just sighed. He should have warned the young Sarutobi not to mention anything about Haruno's forehead.

* * *

Konohamaru and his group were not going to let themselves get caught by this demon girl. No way in hell they would. And should she get them, they had no doubt they would die. So they just kept running, not caring where, as long as it was away from that mad woman.

And then they ran into someone. Before Konohamaru could take a look at whom he ran into, he yelled.

"Hey, watch where you're goin'!"

Then he was grabbed by the collar and lifted off the ground. He was lifted by a preteen who was wearing a full-body black cat suit and had purple war paint on his face. And he had a scary face expression.

"You should respect your elders, brat." He said his voice on edge. "Otherwise, you may be asking for trouble."

The young brunette was scared. He was so damn scared he could wet himself any minute now.

"Kankuro! Enough! What if he's watching?" spoke the girl who accompanied him. She was a blond whose hair was tied in four spiky ponytails. She was dressed in a light purple-coloured garment that extends from below her shoulders to halfway down her thighs, with a scarlet sash tied around her waist. In addition to incorporating fishnet worn over her shoulders and legs, specifically on her right calf and her left thigh. She was also carrying a large metal object.

"Don't worry, Temari. It'll be quick." The boy now recognized as Kankuro answered her, lifting his fist.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Sakura finally decided to intervene. She was so confused before after seeing the new faces, that she barely even grasped what was going on. "You can't hit him just because he ran into you!" That earned her a glare.

"Don't worry. I'm just gonna teach this pipsqueak a lesson of good manners." Kankuro replied. He was about to hit the kid, when something hit him in the hand, with which he was holding the young Sarutobi. He growled in annoyance when he saw the Uchiha in the tree.

"I think you need a lesson yourself. Picking up on a small kid who ran into you accidently is rather cowardice." Sasuke said proudly.

"Great! Another pest." The painted-face said.

"Indeed. And a good looking this time." Temari followed, with a slight blush on her cheeks. But her thoughts were stopped when Kankuro reached for the strange thing he was carrying on his back. It was almost as big as he was and was wrapped in bandages. "Kankuro! What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna show them not to mess with the Hidden Sand Village's ninjas!" Kankuro barked. But before he did anything else, a creepy voice came.

"Kankuro. Enough."

As if it was a genjutsu, the guy's expression changed from a cocky and aggressive one into that of a coward. Everyone, especially Sasuke, was surprised to find a red-hair boy with a gourd on his back. The kid quickly disappeared and reappeared next to his comrades, letting everyone see him better. His was short, had black rings under his green eyes, no eyebrows, and on the left side of his forehead was a kanji for 'love'. The boy was wearing a black shirt with short sleeves, covered by a white cloth, black pants and his forehead protector served him for a belt. The boy glared at his friend.

"You're an embarrassment."

"I… I'm sorry, brother." Kankuro said with lots of fear.

"Calm down, brother. Nothing happened. Let's just go on." Temari tried to calm the short boy down. And it seemed to work. Then she turned to the Konoha kids. "I apologize for my brothers. Their just nervous because of the Chunin Exams."

Sakura seemed to blink at the sound of that. "Chunin Exams? So soon? Guess I lost track of time since we graduated." She sheepishly said. The Sand team began to walk away, when…

"Wait!" Sasuke roared, catching everyone's attention. "You, the red head. What's your name?"

The red head turned to make an eye contact. "Garra of the Desert. You?"

"Uchiha Sasuke." He replied. Then the two groups departed.

* * *

**Elsewhere**

He didn't trouble to follow them. After all, Sakura may be brutal, but it's not like she was going to kill the kids. Maybe hurt them, but not kill. Naruto was coming close to 'Ichiraku's' to get some ramen, when his attention was caught by some quarrel. He ran over to see a group of foreign ninjas. They were from the Hidden Cloud Village and were arguing with some other Leaf genins.

"You have no business here. Just go back to the Cloud and stay there!" one of the Leaf genins said, and earned himself a glare from a girl of the Cloud group. She had dark skin, shoulder length white hair, red eyes and quite a curvy body. She was wearing a grey kimono-like shirt and a white cloth wrapped around her mid section. She also sported tight, black pants under a white mini-skirt and black shinobi sandals, white wrist warmers and her forehead protector was tied on her right thigh.

"Oh, I'm sorry. But I believe the Chunin Exams ARE our business, whether you Leaf genins like it or not." She said, surprisingly with a cute and seductive voice. The Leaf genin seemed to want to hit her, when one of her teammates, the biggest of the group, almost Kakashi's height, got in the way. Whether he was fat or muscular, you could not tell. He had a red tomahawk, sunglasses, wore a black, sleeveless shirt and black pants. His forehead protector was on his belt.

"Cut it out, Akemi." The third genin from Cloud spoke. He seemed very nervous and troubled. He was dressed in a similar way as the other boy, except he had a long sleeved shirt, carried a short sword on his back, white hair and a lollipop in his mouth. "I mean, what if we go start a fight now, and then some chunin or jounin shows up and states we're to blame for starting a fight just because we're foreign genins and we get kicked out and Raikage gets mad hearing this and destroys the tower to loose some steam and starts a war and…"

He never caught to finish, as his fellow kunoichi hit him hard on the head. "What the matter is wrong with you, Omoi? You're exaggerating as usual. Damn, why didn't you end up with Karui?"

"Because you're more gentle and patient than her and can better calm down J." Omoi pointed the big comrade, who turned towards them at that.

"A'ight." Was all he said. Then J turned back to the Leaf genins, who seemed ready to attack. The big guy didn't hesitate and raised his arm, as if ready to attack.

"J/ Big guy! ARE YOU MAD?" his teammates yelled in full horror. "WE DIDN'T SAY CRUSH THEM!" But it was too late. Their teammate proceeded to crush them.

But his hand was stopped. Those six genins were at awe, seeing how easily some one stopped the big genin. He was known in Cloud as one of the physically strongest genins, and here he was stopped by a small blond, like they were equals. The dark skinned genins were especially stunned by this picture.

"Maybe you're friend needs ta back 'way a bit, donncha think?" Naruto said with a serious tone. J turned around to see his teammates nodding to him to back away. And so he did. Akemi was eyeing the short blond before she smiled and disappeared. When she reappeared, she was right next to him. Naruto was a little startled, as he didn't even noticed when she moved. Then again, he wasn't looking at her. Now the girl, about 2 cm shorter than Anko, was leaning on him, squeezing his arm into her breasts. While the blond was startled, Omoi seemed to be embarrassed by her behavior.

"I'll admit you're quite an interesting one around here, Shorty. Yet I wonder how you handle in a fight." She said and started to lick his cheek. When she was about to lick him again, Naruto got free from her hold and jumped away.

"Hey, the hell's wrong wit'cha? And what are ya doin' 'ere?" he asked.

"We're here for the Chunin Exams. What else?" Omoi answered, and was followed by J's nod. "Anyway, we should go find our sensei and hotel. Hopefully it'll be good, 'cause what if we end up without toilet paper, and we'll have to improvise some and end up using our documents by accident an…?" He was interrupted again by his female teammate, who this time elbowed him in the head.

"What's with you and the toilet talk? You've got some toilet fetish or what?" Akemi yelled at him, stomping on him like mad.

"Idiot." J commented, making Naruto and the Leaf genins sweat drop. The blond thought that maybe this guy just didn't like to talk much.

"Well, see ya, guys." She waved to the group of locals, and winked to the whisker-faced boy while blowing him a kiss. For some unknown reason, Naruto shivered at that. Now he was thankful he wouldn't be participating in the Chunin Exams this year.

Or so he thought.

* * *

**Hokage Tower**

Lord Third Hokage, called the God of Shinobi, Was eyeing everyone in the room, though there were still some to appear. But he wished for some not to come at all. Specifically Nekokage Kuromaru, whose entrance resulted in having a hole in the wall, just a foot away from the door. Still, Kakashi was considered no better since he was late as usual. When he finally showed up, his nose in his favorite orange book, he didn't give the jounin the chance to say anything.

"I'm glad you're all here. As you know, in five days' time we are about to begin the Chunin Exams." The kage announced. "So I'd like to hear, firstly, who is assigning their teams this year." Most of the jounins assigned their teams, and unexpectedly…

"I, Hatake Kakashi, would like to nominate Team 7, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto!" the always-late-jounin spoke.

"I, Kurenai Yuhi, would like to nominate Team 8, Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba!" a woman with scarlet red eyes followed.

"I, Sarutobi, Asuma, would like to nominate Team 10, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Choji!" The bearded jounin with a not-so-serious expression said. Everyone in the room was surprised.

"Three rookie teams at once?" Hiruzen wondered, what was all that about. Were these three jounins so confident in their genins' skills?

"Well this'll be fun, Sloth-face." Kuromaru, Team 12 captain said in amusement. "Can't wait to see them… suffer some pain."

"Now hold on!" Someone interrupted them. Everyone turned to see Iruka, now in a rather gray/green vest (A/N. I can't see the difference between chunin and jounin, so I'm changing their vest colors), lately typical for chunins. His face showed nothing but annoyance. "You can't be serious! Some of them are not ready for this! You'll get them killed!"

"I was promoted chunin when I was younger than any of them." Kakashi stated.

"They're not you! Especially Naruto! He won't pull through this! I must decline that decision!"

"I'm sorry, Iruka, but this is Kakashi's decision, since they are his students." Third said. Iruka just frowned at that. But Lord Hokage was right. The chunin had no saying in the matter ever since his students became genins. "So it is decided. The chunins exam, taking place in our village this year, will begin in five days. Have your teams ready."

"And you'd best remember to advice them equipping themselves." a charismatic voice came (Christopher Lee). The hokage turned to his left to find a person having his presence known. It was a tall man, wearing black robes and red belt. He had his entire head wrapped in bandages, revealing only his right eye and short, black, spiky hair. "After all, it'll be a long time before the stadium is ready and my guild must make profit."

"Lord Arata of the Seven Lucky Gods Trading Guild." Lord kage bowed in a welcoming manner. He knew this man well, as his guild was often trading with the Leaf Village or profiting necessary help when the village couldn't do in on its own, making the Seven Lucky Gods Trade Guild an unofficial ally to the village. "I'm so sorry. I got into the exams so badly, I forgot all about your involvement, old friend."

"Apologies on my behalf as well, Lord Hokage. I should have not made my presence known, 'til you were done. But if you don't mind, I'll let you shinobi know the details."

"There is no need, Arata. I'm sure they all remember your speech from your last visit."

Arata eyed the shinobi in the room for a minute, before he turned back to Hiruzen. "I'm sure they are, Lord Sarutobi. You mind we discuss our business in your office then?"

"Certainly. As for you all…" the God of shinobi turned to the ninjas "You are all dismissed!"

Soon the room was empty and lord Hokage was walking discussing business with the trade guild leader.

"So how are the preparations of the stadium going? Is it going to be ready for the final round?"

"I'm a man of my word, Lord Hokage. The stadium will be ready within the month."

"Glad to hear it. Without your help, we would be rebuilding our village in two years instead of one."

"Worry not."

* * *

**Five days later, the day of the Chunin Exams**

Team 7 was on their way towards the academy building, according to Kakashi's instructions. They were still somewhat nervous about it. When they first heard about being entered into the exams four days earlier, they were so shocked. They didn't know whether to be happy or scared. Of course, Kakashi left them to decide whether to enter or not, simply warning them that it will be more difficult than anything he could prepare them for. When they entered the building, the first thing to frighten them was a number of genins, especially foreign ones. Sakura even commented how she wasn't seeing that coming.

"Hey, let us pass!" they heard a cry when they reached the top of the stairs. Before room 301, where the first part of the Exam was to take place, they saw a huge crowd, blocked by to other people.

"You are kidding me? There's no way a weakling like you can enter. We're doin' you a favor keepin' you out of it." One of the blocking duo answered, pushing the questioning genin away.

"What favor?" someone asked. Everyone turned to see the Uchiha smirking. "This is merely the second floor, while room 301 is on third floor. To be frank, this genjutsu sucks. Only a true weakling can fall for such trick." After his little explanation, Team 7 moved on. After a few steps, someone stood in their way. It was an older boy with long brown hair, wearing a white, high collar shirt, black shorts and bandages wrapped around his right hand and left leg. But the characteristic about him were his white, pupiless eyes. He was a Hyuga.

"You. You think you're so smart, don't you?" he asked. Sasuke just smirked at him, and then the two tried to hit each other. But they were stopped by another genin, who wore a green spandex body suit, orange leg warmers and bandages on his hands. He had wide eyes, thick eyebrows and a black bowl haircut.

"Lee! Neji! You two should calm down right now. Remember, we were supposed to lay low." A famine voice called. It was coming from a girl with brown hair tied in two buns, wearing a pink, sleeveless blouse and dark green pants. Her two teammates glared at the Uchiha, before the Hyuga finally relaxed and began to walk away. But he quickly stopped.

"My name's Hyuga Neji. Who are you?" he asked arrogantly.

"Uchiha Sasuke." He answered. He and the Hyuga shared another glared before Sakura decided to interfere.

"Sasuke, that's enough. You so totally getting the unwanted attention." She tried to calm him down. But before she knew it…

"Hey there…" someone called out to her. When she turned, she saw the spandex wearing genin looking at her. "I'm Rock Lee. And… YOU'RE THE MOST YOUGHFUL SIGHT TO MY EYES! PLEASE, GO OUT WITH ME! LET US ENJOY THE FLAMES OF YOUTH TOGETHER!" he shouted out with ridiculous passion, having tears run out his eyes and began to wink at her, giving her that creeps.

"The Flames of WHAT? Are you kidding me? And what the hell is that?" Sakura asked, avoiding a small heart flying towards her. After a few more seconds, Lee's teammates caught him and dragged him away. Team 7 was looking as the new rivaling team was moving away in silence, later broken by Sasuke.

"Can we move already? At this rate we'll be late for the exam."

"So you finally spoke of the exam. I would've bet on Sakura." Naruto commented, earning a blow to the head from his pink-haired teammate.

"TO HELL WITH YOU, NARUTO!" she yelled at him. Once he pulled himself together, they continued on.

* * *

Team 7 finally reached a big room, from where they would reach their destination.

"This is it." Sakura said. "Just up these stairs, down the hallway and we'll reach room 301."

"Finally." Sasuke murmured.

"'bout time." Naruto followed.

"HOLD!" Someone screamed, effectively stopping the three in place, as if someone pressed the pause button. They looked around to find Rock Lee waiting for them next to the stairs. "You! Uchiha! Fight me!"

Sasuke didn't say anything. He just raised his eyebrow.

"I understand! My apologies! I must explain! I am the strongest genin here! I want to know of your abilities!" Lee explained. Now the Uchiha was interested. He was about to take his stance, when…

"A'ight! I can't stand it anymore!" Naruto cried with veins on his face. "It's always Sasuke 'n' Sasuke! I've had it! You, Bushybrows! You fight me first!"

"I'm sorry. But my interest is Uchiha Sasuke. This year's 'Rookie of the Year'. I have no business with lower ge…" Lee never managed to finish, as Naruto dashed towards him. The brunette was surprised to find the blond running this fast, but was fast enough to dodge the punch. He wanted to kick him away, as he was eager to fight the Uchiha. How surprised he was to see the blonde block his kick easily. Lee's eyes widened seeing that and then he smiled. This blond was interesting. The two then pulled their hands back and about to deliver each other a blow to their faces.

END


	16. Chapter 15 The Chunin ExamS part 2

**Chapter 15**

**The Chunin Exams- part 2**

**Silence before storm**

Naruto and Lee were in the process of delivering each other a blow. Time seemed to slow down as their fist flew pass each other. When they made contact, both boys flew backwards. Lee managed to find his footing, while Naruto flew into a wall. The blond just smiled as finally he had the chance for some real fight. But when he got out of the wall, Sasuke stopped him.

"Whadda hell, jerk? He's mine!" Naruto protested.

"And I want to test him myself as well, idiot." The Uchiha answered with a smile. "I won't let you have all the fun." Then he dashed forward. The spandex wearing boy just narrowed his eyes and smiled. When the Uchiha got close enough, he was send flying back. Sasuke bounced of a few times before he hit the wall. When he got up, he looked mad, gritting his teeth.

"Surprised?" Lee asked, taking his pose. "It's pure taijutsu. Think you can beat someone of this level?" Sasuke didn't answer. Instead, he shut his eyes and when he opened them, with the flash, his sharingan was revealed. Sakura cheered on him, while the older genin didn't flinch.

Sasuke dashed again. But he was send flying again. Only this time, he was flying upwards. Sasuke was eyeing his opponent, who suddenly disappeared from his sight.

"Now I got you." Lee's voice came from behind. Sasuke flinched. He couldn't keep up. And now he saw the bandages on the spandex wearing kid's hands unwrapping.

'_What's he up to?_' Lucky for him something drew Lee's attention. His bandages have been pinned to the wall by a kunai. 'What the…?'

"This is bad." Lee said and landed, while Sakura dashed off and caught Sasuke before his head could hit the floor. Lee was bowing to the turtle. Naruto, who was long out of the wall, was confused as to why the Bushybrows was treating the turtle like a sensei.

"Lee! You were about to use THAT jutsu, weren't you?" the turtle yelled, making the said boy flinch.

"N… No! I wasn… I mean… I… I was about to… No I was just warmin…! He couldn't find proper words to excuse himself.

"Lucky for you I'm not the one to punish you. If I were, I would have you hanging upside down in an acid pit upside down for three weeks, feeding you with nothing but cockroaches!" The turtle let out his frustration with the boy. "Are you ready for you're punishment?"

"Y… yes, sir."

"Alright then… Please, come out, Guy-sensei!"

There was a puff of smoke. And once it dispersed, Might Guy appeared on top of the turtle. "Hey! Wazzup? How'cha doin' everybody? Life treatin' you good?"

Team 7, of course, instead of answering, where beyond shock. This guy looked like an adult version of Rock Lee's.

"He's got the biggest eyebrows ever!" Naruto yelled in horror. He could have sworn he just saw the man's eyebrows breath. "They must be alive!"

"Hi, Lee!" Said the man, taking the 'nice guy' pose and continued "I heard about what you were doing."

"Y… yes, sensei."

"Then… HERE'S YOUR PUNISHMENT, YOU FOOL!" Gai hit him extremely hard in the jaw. After Lee fell, his sensei walked to him. "I'm sorry, Lee. But… *sniff* it's for your own good."

"Oh, sensei."

The two now had tears running down their cheeks and, strangely, they were in the landscape of a cliff above the ocean during sunset, something suitable for a romance scene.

"*sniff* Oh, Lee"

"Sensei. I am… so sorry."

"It's okay. You don't have to apologies. You only gave into the flames of youth."

"SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

The two were now embracing one another. The scene was just so grotesque it caused Team 7 strange reactions. Naruto cried in agony while covering his eyes, as if they were burning. Sakura barfed, and Sasuke kept mentally saying '_There's no way I lost to HIM!_'

"It's okay, Lee. It's okay. You don't have to cry anymore. You're too old to be a boy and still not quite a man."

"You're so good to me, Gai-sensei." The two finally let go of each other and stood up.

"Now go! Do 100 laps around the village as your punishment! Show me what you've got!"

"Yes sir!"

"Run into the setting sun! Run and suffer! Just don't ruin your hair." Gai ordered while pointing at the 'sun'. After the two traded the smiles, the genjutsu dropped. They were off, until Lee suddenly stopped and turned towards Kakashi's team.

"Oh, by the way, Uchiha Sasuke. I'm sorry, but I lied. I am not the strongest genin. Truth be told, there is someone far stronger than me. Said to be the strongest genin in this year's Chunin Exam." Lee excused. Sasuke was surprised to hear that.

While on the way down the hall, Team 7 still felt uncomfortable. It wasn't the shock of seeing the two look-a-likes hugging. It was that Gai claimed to be superior to their sensei, his rival, though they didn't know how much truth was there. The other thing was what Naruto noticed about Lee. His hand was in terrible condition, telling that he trained even harder than any of them. Sasuke could feel himself ready to explode because of that. Than again, it sounded much like fun.

Team 7 finally entered the room, though not without Kakashi's explanation that this was a team test. After they closed the doors behind themselves, imagine their surprised looks when they saw a huge crowd of genins form all different villages. The blond and pink-head of Team 7 got all nervous while eyeing all the competition.

"So you're eyeing out the competition, Naruto?" came an all too familiar, lazy voice of Nara Shikamaru's. The prankster turned around to find him accompanied by Akimichi Choji, a choppy boy with light brown hair, swirl marking on each cheek, and who wore his forehead protector in a way someone would say he was wearing underwear on his head. Choji was wearing a white undershirt with a clan crest under a green shirt, black shorts and had bandages wrapped around his hands and legs. And, as usual, he was munching his chips.

"He he. Hi, Naruto." He said.

"Shikamaru? Choji? You guys are here too?" Naruto asked, receiving a nod as an answer. He was about to ask about Ino, when he heard…

"Sasuke! So you're in the exams after all. Oh my gosh! That's totally cool!" the Yamanaka girl cried in joy while hugging Sasuke, causing Sakura to look like she was going to kill someone.

"Get off him, Ino-pig!" she screeched.

"Forehead, so you're taking the exam as well?" Ino asked while glaring at her.

"Why are you so surprised? If I were to quit, Sasuke wouldn't be here. There's no way that's happening."

"Well, look at that!" A new voice interrupted. Every one turned to find another trio from their academy days.

It was Team 8. The one to speak first was Inuzuka Kiba who had messy, dark brown hair, feral features, and red fang-like markings on his cheeks. He wore a grey blouse with a hood and some fur on sleeves ends as well as the hood, black pants and had a small dog with him. "Looks like all of rookie 9 are in this exam. Just how cool is that?" He continued. Then he was joined by a boy with short, spiky, light brown hair who was wearing sunglasses, a high collar jacket and dark brown pants. His name was Aburame Shino.

"It is quite a surprise."

"I-its great t-to see you made it, N-Naruto." The third member of the team spoke in her shy manner. It was Hyuga Hinata, The blue-haired girl, as Naruto recalled.

"Yeah. I'm just great, aren't I." the blond spoke out loudly.

"You? Great?" Kiba laughed, "Are you kiddin' me, small fry? You're just lucky. Just wait 'til the start. I'll happily make you remember how easily you could lose every taijutsu session, Sick Boy."

Naruto growled at the Inuzuka. He so wanted to beat him up. "You wanna go, Mutt? Well bring it o….!" But the blond was cut off when he felled this feeling. It wasn't the arms wrapped around him that bothered him that much, but rather the rest of someone's body. And Naruto knew all too well what was going on.

"Ah, Naru! So you're taking the exams too? How unexpected! No wonder you didn't want to see me!" Anko happily said while hugging him. The rest of the rookie 9 was confused as to what was going on.

"Um, excuse me, but who are you?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, me? I'm Mitarashi Anko of Team 12. And this is my team." She pointed towards the doors where her two teammates were standing.

"Niigetsu Ryu." The one to the left introduced himself. He was wearing red kimono-like shirt without sleeves, black leather jacket and black pants. He had shoulder length, green hair under his bandana-like forehead protector. What was giving everyone the creeps was his right eye being black while the left was gold. Maybe that's why his face was always frowned Anko thought. "And the guy next to me is Ganju." He continued pointing the last member of Team 12. It was a scrawny and average height guy with the entire left side of his face covered in some markings. He had long black hair, wide nose, a nervous face expression and wore a dark blue cat suit under a grey coat. The most characteristic was the number of scrolls, bags and pouches he carried with him.

"'sup?" He said while simply raising his hand.

"Don't worry 'bout him. He doesn't talk much when greeting people." Anko explained.

"Um… ex- cuse me… A-Anko. B-But I don't think N-Naruto feels com-comfortable in y-your embrace." Hinata commented pointing at Naruto, who was still in the purple-haired kunoichi's hug. Anko rather ignored that, and as if it wasn't enough, she was glaring strangely at the young Hyuga.

"You!" She said sternly, "What are you doing here, you little…?"

At that, Hinata stepped back, as if someone just openly threatened her life.

"Now now, Anko. I don't think Hinata meant any kind of offense." Sakura said while she and Ino tried to calm her down.

"You don't get it, do you, Moon Head?" Anko barked at Sakura and move to behind Hinata. "You don't just become friends with someone who at this age has THESE!" She ripped Hinata's jacket at the zipper, revealing her well developed chest. An awkward silence fell.

* * *

**Jounins' b****arrack**

The jounin-senseis were enjoying themselves while their teams were taking the exams. Kurenai, who was the newest jounin, was eating some rice rolls. Asuma was having tea and Kakashi was enjoying his favorite book. For once in a long while they could relax and think of themselves. They were after all confident in their genins. They were prepared for this. Nothing could go wrong now.

Or could it?

There was a sudden cried that got them along with other jounins off guard. In their shock, Kurenai almost choked on her treat. Asuma spitted, who knows how, five times the tea he sipped into his mouth and Kakashi almost dropped his book, while his hair gave into gravity's pull. When the cry passed and the jounins pulled themselves together, they all wondered what just happened.

"What in Kami's name was that?" Asuma asked.

"Sounded like someone just developed an inferiority complex." Kurenai guessed. "Or rather a whole bunch of someones."

Kakashi sighed. "I bet Naruto's the centre of it. Him or Sakura."

* * *

**Room 301**

Most of the kunoichis were in deep desperation. They were salking, as if they heard the worst thing a girl could hear in her life. Some were even hugging or massaging themselves in hopes of being wrong about their bodies. Sakura and Ino were in that group. Well, the males on the other hand were quite the opposite. Some of them had some blood on their faces. Some just little. Others a lot. Of course some just slapped themselves in the face, not believing the circus before their eyes.

"So the older chick's jealous of Hinata's body?" Shikamaru half-whispered, getting everyone's attention. "What a drag. My money was on Sakura." That earned him a right hook to the face.

"Shut up, Shikamaru!" the mentioned kunoichi yelled at the lazy boy. Then she turned towards her new nemesis. "And you, Hinata, don't think you're getting away with it."

'THE FIRST CHANCE I GET, I'LL BURRY YOU ALIVE, HELL YEAH!' her inner-self shouted.

"You may want to keep it quiet. You act like a bunch of foolish kids in the park." Someone said. Everyone calmed down and turned to the source of the said voice. It was a boy in his late teens with white hair tied in a long pony-tail, wearing glasses, a purple sleeveless shirt over a white shirt and purple pants. "You're getting everyone's attention, which is a poor choice of strategy."

"And you are…?" Sasuke asked, giving him a suspicious look.

"I am Yakushi Kabuto. And I am taking this exam for the fifth time."

"Fifth time?" Sakura gasped in surprise. "Then this exam is really hard."

"And you most likely know by know how to pass it." Sasuke added.

"Actually, I know by now how to fail." Kabuto answered.

"Interesting." The Uchiha got interested. If this guy had the knowledge that could help his team pass, it would be best to use it. "So what can you tell us about the exams?"

Kabuto reveal to them all he could. He started by revealing that he had all the data on the special chakra cards, which stay blank, until some of his chakra is channeled into them. Then he explained about the village strength, which also explained what genin teams would be most common or dangerous during the exam. He admitted to be most interested in the genin team from the new village, the Hidden Sound Village, which was new, isolated and wasn't really known.

The Sasuke asked the silver-haired guy if he had any information on specific individuals. Of course, as it is for someone with infiltration skills, Kabuto did. The individuals were Garra of the Desert and Rock Lee. About Lee there was a lot about his taijutsu, speed and chakra, but little about genjutsu and ninjutsu. His sensei, teammates and number of missions were little of interest. But when it came down to the Sand genin, there was nothing but his team and mission. Nothing about his tactics or skills. That was troublesome.

Naruto somewhat felt the adrenaline rush and, whether out of stupidity or excitement, he jumped on the desk and shouted out: "Listen up, ya freaks! I'll take ya'll out! So come at me with wha' ya've got there! Believe it! Ya're goin' down!"

"Naruto, are you mad?" Sakura yelled at him and hit him with a chair. "Now you made enemies with everyone!"

"Hey! Four eyes!" Someone called to Kabuto. It was a genin from Hidden Sound, whose head, minus left eye and ear, were wrapped in bandages. "I heard what you said about our village. Don't take us lightly though." He pulled his right sleeve to reveal a strangely build gauntlet and wave his hand right in front of Yakushi's face. Kabuto smiled, thinking the Sound-nin had a bad aim, but then… Pain hit him, as his glasses shattered. What happened? He knew he wasn't hit. Or was he? But how? Air pressure? The sound genin was about to hit again, when he felt a short blade near his side. A kunai to more precise. Ryu's kunai was aimed at him.

"I suggest you calm down, pal. Or I'm gonna spill some of that blood of yours." the green-haired genin threatened. The two glared at each other, as their teammates were about to join in.

That's when a puff of smoke interrupted everything. When the smoke dispersed, there was a group of chunins, along with a man in his late twenties- early thirties, with two scars on his stern-looking face, wearing a bandana and a black trench coat.

"All right, that's enough, maggots! I want peace and quiet here! Do I make myself clear?" He shouted. "You there, the Sound, I will have no fighting here unless I say so! Do you understand?"

"Sorry, it is our first time." The sound genin answered calmly. "Quess I got carried away."

"Well then make sure you don't get carried away again! At any rate… Welcome to the first part of the Chunin Exams. I am your proctor, Morino Ibiki! And at this point your asses are mine!" he said with the sadistic grin.

END

* * *

Bio:

Name: Niigetsu Ryu

Age: 15

Height: 158 cm

Blood type: B

Affiliation: Hidden Leaf Village; Niigetsu clan; Team 12

Rank: genin

Stats: taijutsu- high; ninjutsu- average; genjutsu- average; strength- average; stamina- good; intellect- good; chakra- good; speed- good

Special skills: clan jutsu- shadow manipulation; swordsman

* * *

Name: Izo

Age: 28

Height: 168 cm

Blood type: A

Affiliation: Hidden Leaf Village (formally)

Rank: jounin

Stats: taijutsu- good (very high with the mask); ninjutsu- high (extreme with the mask); genjutsu- good (very high with the mask); strength- average (high with the mask); stamina- average (high with the mask); intellect- extreme; chakra- very poor (extreme with the mask); speed- good (very high with the mask)

Chakra nature: Earth (affinity); fire

Special skills: chakra manipulation; crafting; the Mask of Jubokko- understanding and ability to use it, chakra absorption, volcanic style


	17. Chapter 16 The Chunin Exams part 3

**Chapter 16**

**The Chunin Exams- part 3**

**The big quiz!**

They all gulped. The first proctor was, with his face alone, horrifying. The two scars on the tall man's face, who wore a headband, made him even more intimidating. Some of the genins, while looking at him, had the feeling he was about to kill them for merely breathing. Ibiki was eyeing them all, as if he was going to do just that. Although, there was this one person in particular who didn't seemed touch by his terrifying appearance. Quite the contrary, she seemed fascinated. That's what made Ibiki so irritated about Anko.

If the proctor wasn't bad enough than the next two things made it worst. The first being the first part of the exam, which turned out to be a written test. Naruto wasn't exactly the thinking type, so it was like a nightmare-come-true for him. The minute he learned that, he already began to think of a way his life sucked. The second bad thing was they were to be sited separately from their teammates, so would not be helping one another.

The blond discretely looked around, hoping to find his team, though he knew that wouldn't help. Right now he was alone. '_Just look at him._' Sakura though, looking at him, '_Already loosing his head. Well, written exams were never his strong points. Tough luck for Naruto. He hehe._' She mentally laughed. She wasn't laughing at Naruto's situation, but the irony. She knew how fired up he was for the exam when four days earlier their sensei announced them parting in it. And now everything turned against the blond. She hoped this experience would do some good for him. But what she didn't know was how karma makes people pay.

"Alright you maggots! Listen up and listen good, because I hate to repeat myself!" Morino caught everyone's attention. He gave them all a quick look and continued. "Before we start the test, there are three rules you're going to have to obey! And before I them to you, you worthless, garbage-eating worms, there will be no questions asked! Understood?" He didn't see anyone complaining, which he took as a yes. "Good! Now then… Here are the rules. The first rule:…!" He started to write on the blackboard, "The written part of the exam is conducted by the point reduction system! From the start, you each have a score of 10 points! For every question you get wrong, you loose a point! For example: you answered three questions incorrectly! So your final score is 7! Rule number two: everyone will pass or fail depended on a total score the team scored!" Now that shocked everyone. That was ridiculous. Sakura hit the desk with her head, unwilling to comprehend what she just heard.

"WHAT? You gotta be kidding me! You mean to tell me we all get scored as a team?" She shouted in disbelieve. That just earned her a glare from the proctor.

"I said: NO QUESTIONS! I have my reasons. So shut your pie-hole and listen." The pink-haired kunoichi obeyed him like a dog. She knew it's for the best not to get on the man's bad side. Still, it felt wrong to her. "Rule number 3: The sentinels are set around the room to watch you for any signs of cheating!" Some of the genins couldn't help but take a look at the said sentinels. They were all dressed in tan shirts and pants and each had a clipboard. One of them, who had a plaster wrapped around his face just to cover his nose let them know he was watching them carefully. "And they will take 2 points for everytime they catch you on cheating! So they catch you 5 times, you will be dismissed before you even get scored! So if you wanna-bes want to be shinobis, show us what you're made of!"

'_Ok. Relax._' Sakura tried to calm herself. '_I know I will do alright. A-and Sasuke should do just fine. So even if Naruto gets a zero…_'

"Oh, and just one more thing. If anyone scores a zero… The whole team gets automatically eliminated from the exams!"

Now THAT hit the whole Team 7 like a boulder-sized kunai.

"WHAT DID JUST SAY?" the pink head screeched in disbelieve. And that was when a certain blond felt like certain two people were ready to kill him. He couldn't help it. He knew he wouldn't do anything about that. He was already dead to them. He just prayed this all would be a bad dream.

"Um… Na-Naruto? Are y-you alright?" someone asked. Naruto looked to his side to find Hinata was sitting next to him, all blushing.

"N-no. I feel l-like I'm 'bout ta be skinned alive." He answered. Then the proctor continued.

"The final question won't be given until 15 minutes before the end of the test! You have one hour!" he looked at the clock. When it was already 12h15… "Begin!"

The room was filled with the sound of paper sheets turned the text-side up and writing. Everyone had this look on their faces. The looks of despair and trouble, as if already saying 'I won't make it!' Sakura felt pretty confident she would manage it. After all, she was the smartest girl in class. She even considered herself the brains of the team. So this was where she shows her stuff. But Naruto was the one she was troubled about. But something suddenly made her wonder. The blond teammate of hers didn't seem to think about the questions.

Even Sasuke noticed it. And he had a better view on him. He could clearly see the blond seemed to wonder about something. Then he saw the blond seemed to catch an idea, which only made him more nervous and finally looking at his sheet. The Uchiha knew the blond well enough by now to know that he must have thought of something. Then it hit him. '_Of course. Naruto may be an idiot, but despite that, his extremely perceptive. He must have found something out about the test. But what? What is it, Naruto? What did you notice?_' the Uchiha looked at his test again, hoping he'll learn soon enough. For some reason, he recalled the rules. Suddenly he noticed one of the sentinels marking the genin who cheated. The competition was loosing. Then he realized the penalty for being caught five times.. But why? Why where you allowed continuing the test 'til the fifth fail? You should be out by the first caught.

That's when it hit him. This test wasn't about finding out their knowledge, but their ability to gather information. That was the test. Only the finest of shinobi could get the necessary intel and not get caught on it. But the proctor didn't tell them the true purpose of this test straight because it wouldn't help at all. Quite the contrary, everyone would be on their guard from the beginning. What's more, in the shinobi world, when on mission, there would be times when you run into your target and gather information from them by chance. It wasn't that you seek a guy, find him and follow him just like that.

But the Uchiha was aware he wasn't the only one to figure that out. Several others were also starting to take advantage of the situation they learned about. Like Hyuga Neji, who already began to use his ability, making veins in and around his eyes visible. Garra of the Desert, who was sending his sand. Ganju of Team 12, who touched a piece of his tattoo, which began to glow for a second. To Ibiki, it just got more interesting. Especially since now, finally, there were some, who were in the process of being removed from the room. One of the Sand ninjas, Kankuro, was taken out of the room by one of the sentinels, as the genin needed to use the bathroom.

'_Look at her._' Ino thought while looking at Sakura, '_A real brainiac. Well, Sakura, sorry to do this, but I'm so gonna have to borrow that oversized forehead of yours._' She made a hand seal and after a few seconds her body fell as if asleep. Ryu meanwhile held a small capsule in his hand. He put his hand under the desk and pressed it to its shadow. The capsule began to disappear into the shadow, only to reappear under another desk and fall into Anko's hand. She discretely opened it and read the encrypted note.

Time was running short for most. Especially for Naruto. He just couldn't answer any of the questions. There was no other way. He would have to bet on the tenth question. And of course…

"All right! 15 minutes until the end of the exams!" Ibiki announced. "It's time for tenth question!"

* * *

**Jounin barracks.**

The jounin-senseis of Team 7, 8 and 10 were enjoying they're meals. It was about time for lunch. Kurenai looked out the window from time to time, troubled about her team. Both Kakashi and Asuma knew she couldn't be left like that.

"Worried about your team, Kurenai?" the bearded man asked, getting the red-eyed woman's attention.

"Of course not. I'm confident in them. Why?" She lied.

"Because this year's first proctor is Ibiki." Kuromaru said. "Meaning the little rats might be back sooner than expected."

Kakashi's eye was wide open. Of all the people… 'So they have it rough right from the start. Damn. I wasn't expecting this.' "So their chances are near zero with that sadist."

"Ibiki? Who's that?" Kurenai asked.

"You're kidding me, right?" Kuromaru asked. Kurenai only shook her head.

"I almost forgot you're new within the jounin ranks, Kurenai.." Asuma responded. He inhaled some of his cigarette and began to explain. "Ibiki is someone you could call a specialist."

"A specialist? In what?"

"Interrogation and torture. Of course there is no physical torture while the exam."

"Pathetic." Kuromaru whispered.

"That's not his skill anyway. Ibiki has a perfect understanding for human brain. He likes to pressure his victims and let them finish themselves."

"His really that bad?"

"His one of the kind." Kakashi answered her. "Trust me. you don't want to know how he works."

* * *

**Academy. Room 301.**

Morino Ibiki eyed everyone. Especially Kankuro, who just entered the room. "Before I give the question however, there are some more rules! First: You may choose to take or not take the question!" He announced. Everyone in the room felt confused. You could choose to take or not? That was beautiful. Too beautiful.

"Okay. Fine. Let's say we decide not to take the tenth problem." Akemi, the Cloud genin asked. "What's the catch?"

The interrogation specialist just gave her a sick smile. "Then you get a zero and fail the exam!" Where there was confusion before, now there was uproar. The genins felt mad, as if the guy was wasting their time on purpose.

"Are you playing us?" Temari yelled. "In that case we all will just take it!"

"Oh really? Despite the second rule?" Ibiki asked. Not only did that shut everyone, it made them even more nervous. "If you take the question, but fail to answer it correctly, then not only will you fail, but…" he paused. He stayed quiet for the whole minute, making every genin in the room sweating. What was the other part aside from failing. Sasuke glared at both the proctor and the blond teammate of his. "But you will be banned from taking the Chunin Exams ever again! You will all stay genin for the rest of your pathetic lives!"

Now all hell was loose. Everyone complained about how unfair this was. Fail this year or fail forever?

"You can't be serious!" Kiba roared. "Are you nuts? There are plenty of genins here who took the exam last year!"

Ibiki chuckled under his breath. Then everyone in the room could hear him. "Too bad. I wasn't making the rules last time. But now I am. I am your worst enemy, since I make the rules and you can only follow them. If you don't want to take the question, you don't have to. So, by all means, you can just quit and try again next year." He looked through the group of genins and saw just what he wanted. Doubt and fear. He smiled and decided to go with the last stroke. "Alright! Those who don't want to take the tenth question, raise your hands! Your numbers will be registered and you can then leave!"

He didn't have to wait long. Immediately several genins began to raise their hands.

Sakura was in stuck in thoughts. She was confident that she and Sasuke could answer the question. But Naruto… He just didn't have it. If he was to fail, it would kill him. She mentally yelled at him to raise his hand. But she didn't se him do anything. She thought he was just too stubborn. But he was also too loyal to his teammates to do this. She understood he just didn't want the team to fail. She smiled. He was so dedicated to her and Sasuke, it pained her… She wanted to raise her hand.

But then Naruto raised his. It shocked her, Hinata, Sasuke and Anko.

'Na_-Naruto. You- you c-can't. I know… You can… d-do this._' The Hyuga girl thought, all sad the blond wanted to quit.

'_Damn it, Naru. I thought you're better than this. C'mon, don't give up._' Anko mentally shouted. '_I don't wanna see you out…_'

"I… I…" Naruto said, but seemed to loose the words. Ibiki eyed him, loosing his patience.

"Yes?" he asked through his teeth.

"I am ta understand we can just roll our tails and run, just 'cause it's better to live like cowards?" That caught everyone's attention. Even Ibiki's eyes widened. "Don't… UNDERESTIMATE ME!" the blond slammed the desk, breaking it. The blow was strong enough to make Ibiki take a stance. "There's no way I'm gonna run away! C'mon, Scarface! I'd rather take my chances and fail than run! Even if I fail, I'm still gonna become legend! Even if I have ta find a new path! Believe it!" Everyone looked at the blond like he was some kind of crazy man. Yet, for some reason, his words touched them. Everyone felt more confident.

"Are you certain?" The proctor asked, signaling the sentinels to stand down. "This decision may cost you greatly! This WILL change you life!"

"No way. I ain't goin' back on my word. That's my ninja way!" Naruto answered him, full of determination. Ibiki looked him in the eyes. What he saw surprised him. That kid wasn't cocky. He was a true shinobi. One ready to die if necessary. He looked around the room and, to his surprise, everyone left was with him. They were willing to take the question, no matter what the consequences.

'_Remarkable! That brat added some backbone to the rest! To do something like that, especially when not knowing most of these guys, is the sign of what is underestimated for most leaders: the ability to inspire others! That brat… he's a really interesting one._' Ibiki smiled. He had no doubt no one would quit now. It was time to finish it. "To all who remained, let me just say this:…" Everyone braced themselves.

"Congratulations! You all pass!" Ibiki announced with the wide smile on his face. That stupefied every genin in the room. They all were giving Ibiki an owlish look.

"Wait… WHAT?" Sakura shouted out. "What do you mean? Where's the tenth question?"

"There never was one. Or rather… the decision whether to stay or not was the question."

"You mean all nine questions before that were for nothing?" Temari screeched.

"Not at all. You see, they were to test you information gathering skill. When on the mission, information is the most crucial part. How you gather this information also marks whether the enemy finds out about you spying on him or not. Especially in these circumstances we placed you in. Circumstances where you…" Ibiki kept talking while removing his headband, revealing numerous scars and holes on his head, "… would risk your life to get it. Remember it: Information may save you, but you may die while getting it!" Most of the genins had a sick look on their faces. Sasuke seemed to want to look away. Their proctor must have endured something real bad. "Of course there's a change the information won't be accurate, which may lead to your downfall. Disinformation may be worse than no information. This is why it is best to check several sources and find the most reliable or piece them together!"

"Alright. Sure. But I still don't get the purpose of the tenth question." A genin from Waterfall Village spoke.

"Allow me to give you an example. Let's say you're on a mission to retrieve an important document. You know it's to be within a vault of a small compound somewhere in the forest. But you don't have any information about it. You don't even know the number of the enemy guarding it. You have full right to suspect their expecting you. Yet you're short on time and can't waste it to confirm anything. Does that mean you can just quit, because you want to live a little longer? No! No matter what the obstacle, there will be some missions you can't just quit, even if their suicidal. But if you have the courage to face them, and discipline to succeed, only those who are willing to put their lives on the line, can become chunin. While those who run away, who put their comrades' lives in jeopardy by cowering, will never have the honor of becoming chunin. As for you- I am proud to say you have advanced to the next stage of the Chunin Exams!"

One third of the room cheered hearing that, while the rest remained calm. Some even hugged themselves in comfort. But for Ibiki, the blond was the sight he just could not take his eyes off. That kid was something special. He worked for years, proctored many times and witnessed many genins advance, but never before has he seen someone like him. A kid so determined to take the chance, we would stand up to his superior and even take others with him. Especially to victory. A silhouette appeared on the figured of the blond, making the scared man feeling, like he was in the presence of another great man.

And before anyone noticed the window was broken. A rose pinned to the floor. Everyone wondered what that was about. Ibiki quickly realized it but before he could do anything… BOOM! There was smoke everywhere. When it died out, the first proctor disappeared and in his place there was a woman wearing a standard shinobi cat suit, pink wrist warmers and pink leg warmers. She also sported a black trench coat with pink stripes on the sleeves. She had short, purple hair with a red rose in them, brown eyes, and a scar the left side of her neck. Anko tried to hide, as she recognized her quickly.

"This is no time for celebration yet, boys and girls!" The woman announced with a very sweet, femine voice. "I am you're proctor for the second part of the Chunin Exams! Mitarashi Fukiko! Alright then, lets go!" she looked at them, waiting for them to get up. But to her surprise, everyone was just giving her an owlish look. The awkward silence was broken only by a cricket. Then by Ibiki who appeared from behind her.

"You're early. Again!" He said. She gave him a hurt look with a blush.

"Oh, Ibiki, you're mean." She cried.

'Great! If I had known my cousin's the proctor for the second part, I would have quit.' Anko thought.

'Another nuts-job. Just like Naruto' Sakura thought.

'Eew. What bad fashion taste.' Ino thought.

'I wonder if they'll let us have lunch now.' Choji thought.

Fukiko looked at the group of genins and then back at interrogation specialist. "78. You past 26 teams. Oh, Ibiki. You're finally warming up."

"Actually, we have some pretty good candidates this year."

"Really? That's good to hear." She said. Then something strange happened. The atmosphere just felt cold as the second proctor smiled wider. "Cause that means I'll have more fun. Trust me, when I'm done with them, there won't be even half of them left."

Everyone, especially Sakura, freaked out. Did she just hear her right. Not even half the group would pass? What's with the sudden change of personality?

* * *

Few minutes later, when the class was already empty, Ibiki was walking down the hall. He had all the sheets with him. As he walked down the hall, he couldn't stop laughing. To his surprise, he just passed a genin who haven't answered a single question. That kid, Uzumaki Naruto, just intrigued him to no end.

END


	18. Chapter 17 The Chunin Exams part 4

**Chapter 17**

**The Chunin Exams- part 4**

**Welcome to the jungle!**

"Do we actually have a plan or what?" the blond knucklehead cried. It's been half an hour since the start of the second part of the exam and all Team 7 did so far was walking.

But it's not like you can do things just like so when in the training area 44, also known as the Forest of Death. Why did the place earn the name? Because it was the most dangerous training ground in the whole village if not the world. Gigantic, near prehistoric trees, so thick and tall, that barely any sunlight shined through these house-like plants. It was populated by enormous animals, some venomous, it was would be hard to hunt them for food, which could be hiding behind the boulder, just waiting for a young genins to lower their guard. This was the place, where nature was more lethal than another ninja.

But that was the point of the second test. Survival. The main objective was to get to the tower in the center of the forest. This test was to simulate the hostile environment, through which the shinobi often travel. But the fauna of this place wasn't the only hostile thing here. This wasn't even a race. The genins had to also watch out for other teams. The reason why was the second objective.

Each team, before entering the forest was given one of two scrolls. The 'heaven' scroll and 'earth' scroll. The secondary objective was to retrieve the second scroll, so the team would have the full set, before they could head towards the tower. Of course, the team would also have to protect the scroll they had already.

And there was a catch to this all. One was that they were not allowed to open the scroll(s) no matter what. That way, they could proof they're trustworthy. Second catch was that the team that had at least one member, who wouldn't seem able to continue, or lost a team member, would be automatically failed. The only good (or bad) thing was the time limit, which was a 5 days period.

Sasuke was thinking for a moment after hearing his teammate complaining. He wouldn't admit it openly, but Naruto was right. Simply wondering around was getting no where. Plus, it just got them into a fight with the other team. Luckily, despite being separated, Team 7 pulled it through thanks to the young Uchiha noticing the Naruto that returned, after taking a leak, had his armband on the wrong arm. Another thing was that the real Naruto was underestimated in matter of physical strength and endurance. Because of the other team's poor preparation, Sakura managed to get a hold on their scroll. It wasn't really a success, since it was the same kind of scroll they had, 'heaven'. But Sasuke decided it's best to keep it as a spare, just in case. And that ambush just proofed the blonde's point. They needed a plan in order to survive.

"I think we should first come up with a way to identify each other in case the same scenario accurse." He finally said.

"Right. That way we'll be able to tell one another from the imposter." Sakura commented. Naruto gave them the look of agreement.

* * *

**Elsewhere.**

A lone figure stood in the clearing. He seemed to be waiting for something. Or someone. That someone didn't even seem aware f being watched by a group of Waterfall ninjas. The one with an eye patch on his left eye signaled the other two and the whole team jumped down the tree and landed surrounding the lone genin.

"Ha." The eye patch wearing genin laughed. "You're either very brave to try and pick a fight or completely stupid for letting your enemies know your position! Hand over the scroll and you won't get killed."

To his surprise, the lonely genin just raised one hand and made a hand seal. The Waterfall team could have sworn he said 'release'. Then they were all shocked. The electric current was so strong it revealed them standing on shock tags. To their shock, there were even some explosive tags, which their opponent just triggered. With an insane smile.

After a few seconds Anko and Ryu showed up from under a tree. They scanned the area to see their teammate searching the fallen enemies'. They weren't dead, but they were in critical condition.

"Oh, Ganju. You bully. I wanted to have some fun too." The purple haired girl complained when the addressed teammate showed them the 'earth' scroll. Ryu eyed the opponents to see one of them still conscience. He walked over to him and leaned down a bit, pulling out his kunai, as if expecting an attack.

"You saw an enemy genin all alone in a clearing and just decided to jump at him?" Ryu asked. "Are you stupid? In this case it's obvious it's a trap. No ninja would be that stupid really to go into a wide open space by him or her self."

"Th-then… you guys… were hoping… for someone to… sh-sh-show…up-p?" the waterfall genin asked.

"That's what traps serve for, idiot." Ryu answered and turned to his team. "Alright. We've got the full set. Now off to the tower." Ganju and Anko nodded in agreement and Team 12 moved. While jumping through the trees however, Anko felt pain. It wasn't much, but enough to make her stop. The others saw that and landed next to her.

"Anko? You okay?" Ryu asked seriously. His female teammate was sweating completely and gritting her teeth, as if the pain was getting stronger.

"I-I'm fine. Ju-just give me a few minutes." She groaned it out. After a few seconds she was already relaxing. "Strange. It felt like… My body tried to be else where at the same time." She said what she felt to the best she could. The other two looked at each other confused. What was wrong with her all of the sudden?

* * *

**Outside the forest.**

Fukiko was sitting on the bench in shade while chewing a bubble gum and reading her favorite book. The very same as Kakashi's. She giggled for a bit while reading another page. After all, now that the genins were in the forest, what was she supposed to do? It's not like she and the other supervisors could enter and watch over them. They were warned that they could die in the forest. That's why it was named the way it was. She only prayed her little cousin would make it alive.

Then she felt something. This cold feeling. Plus, her shoulder stung her a little. She knew immediately what was happening. She quickly stood up, hid the book and faced the forest. She had no doubt that **he** was in there. The man who made her and Anko suffer. The man she wanted dead. She was about to enter the forest to find him, when two chunins approached her.

"Excuse me, ma'am!" the one with the plaster across his face called. She glared right back at him.

"What is it, Kotetsu?" she asked with her voice on the edge.

"You need to see this!" He answered her right back.

* * *

The purple-hair woman had a sick frown on her face. She used to see many dead bodies in her entire career. She even remembered seeing freshly skinned corpses when she was a child. But to see three bodies without faces was a rare sight. When she looked at them closely, it was like their skulls were their faces. There was just no sign of cutting, ripping, acid burn or anything that would suggest their faces were removed. Fukiko had no doubt what was that all about. She knew this jutsu. She has seen it in action.

"It… can't be." She half whispered. The others heard her, but they concluded she didn't believe her eyes.

"We found these bodies like this just a few minutes ago." Kotetsu said. "Izumo is already in the process of identifying them, but it seems that their dead for the past three hou…" He paused as Fukiko just disappeared. She just left a rose with a note saying: 'inform hokage! Village security breached!' The chunins turned towards the forest just in time to the kunoichi entering the Forest of Death. This made them realize the situation was dead serious.

* * *

**With Team 7.**

"We're going to use a password." Sasuke said to his teammates. They were all sitting under a big log, so no one would surprise them. It took them quite a while to find some suitable place, where they could peacefully think. But now that they found one, they could think of the strategy comfortably. "I'm going to say it just once, so you better remember it well. Upon seeing one returning, the question will be 'How did you manage to pass the crowd of vigilant enemy shinobi?'. That will mean you are to give a password. The password is 'The shinobi must see underneath the underneath. Deception is our greatest weapon. If I weren't to stay vigilant I would be dead'. Got it?" Sakura nodded. But Naruto seemed to try to memorize it. Sasuke glared at his blond teammate. "Damn it, Naruto. Don't tell me you can't remember it."

"Damn it! Shut up, jerk!" Naruto half shouted. "I'm tryin' ta memorize it!"

Then Sakura hit him in the head with her elbow, remembering the blonde's endurance. "Don't talk to Sasuke like this, you idiot." she scolded him, "And how can you not remember it after hearing it by the first go?"

Naruto glared at her with the eyes promising pain. "Great goin', Sakura! I really don't remember! Thanks a lo…" He quickly paused, giving them the look of surprise. That didn't go unnoticed.

"What is it, Naruto?" Sasuke asked, believing his teammate heard something. Instead of the verbal answer, the blond just stood up and look around, focusing on his ears, as if trying to determine where the sound was coming from.

"I don't know. It sounds like a… buzz?" he said. But then his teammates could also hear it. It did sound like a buzz. And it was getting closer.

Then a strong wind hit the team. Naruto was taken away, while the others managed to hold on to the log. Apparently, Naruto overestimated himself. Other wise, he wouldn't be blown away. The Uchiha and his pink-haired teammate looked around, but it looked like their last teammate was taken far off. They had to find him quick. Once they made sure it was clear, they ran to were he was blown. Knowing him, Naruto was either caught in a fight or stuck on the tree.

* * *

Naruto groaned. What ever happened, it was painful. He could endure a punch or a strike with some tools, but it wasn't like he had an iron skin. He could still feel pain in most situations. When he finally opened his eyes, he found himself hanging upside down on a branch, just a few meters above the ground. The vine was keeping him from falling.

The Blond dragged himself up to sit, freed his leg and looked around. There was nobody around. That wind, whether it was a jutsu or not, separated him from his team. Right now he would have to figure out where they are. He couldn't just go where ever he thought to. Or could he? He saw a few broken branches, which seemed like something moved through them. This could be the path he flew. So if he was to go along, he would most likely get to that log, where he got separated from his team. Well it was some plan at least. So the blond took off on jumped onto another branch. From there he jumped onto another and so on. After a while, something caught his attention.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura kept moving in the direction where Naruto was blown to. They hoped to find him fast. After all, should another team attack them, they would be out numbered. The two of course had no doubt the brunette could handle the situation. He was the 'Rookie of the Year' for a reason. But unlike the girl with the huge forehead, the Uchiha was wise enough to know not to take any chances. Besides, without the full squad, they wouldn't advance to the next stage of the exam.

Suddenly, the figure appeared before them. It was the very knucklehead they were looking for. Or so it looked like. The clothing was right, but…

"Hey, I thought I lost ya, guys." The blond said happily. "Ya 'kay?"

"How did you manage to pass the crowd of vigilant enemy shinobi?" Sasuke asked. Sakura quickly remembered it was the password.

The blond smirked and responded "The shinobi must see underneath the underneath. Deception is our greatest weapon. If I weren't to stay vigilant I would be dead."

Both the Uchiha and Haruno looked at each other and then the brunette hit the blond in the face. When the hit genin regained his footing, he immediately dodged Sakura's kunai.

"What the hell, guys?" Naruto asked. "It's really me. I did give the password."

"That's the problem." Sasuke answered with the smirk. "The real Naruto didn't have the chance to remember the password. The fact you could use it just speaks for itself."

The 'Naruto' puffed, revealing a woman in her late teens, with waist-long dark hair, wearing white/ purple kimono with dark purple tomoe-like design around her neck, black pants and dark brown sandals. She glared at the two in annoyance for failing to trick them so miserably. "Tell me then: if your teammate was so incompetent, why did you bother to come up with the password in the first place?"

"Hn. It was just a bait." The young Uchiha said, "I knew someone must have been watching us, so I prepared it as to make sure we could ambush the enemy should they try the imposter strategy on us." He was about to throw a kunai he pulled out while explaining his plan, but he stopped, when he saw the kunoichi before her smiling. And when he heard her chuckling, it truly disturbed him.

* * *

Naruto was jumping up the tree, trying to escape an enormous serpent chasing him. That was his luck clearly. To run into a big reptile on his way back to the team. He jumped onto another tree, when its tail appeared from beneath, trying to hit him. But Naruto managed to bounce on it into the tree's crown. He hoped to lose the beast in there.

But unfortunately, the serpent head butted him, sending the blond into the side of the plant. The fox-container hit the tree with a lot of force, making him feel dizzy. He opened his eyes just in time to see the serpent's tail incoming to crush him.

The tail hit. The snake pulled its tail away, but there was no body in the place of impact. The reptilian started to seek the blonde's scent, when Naruto jumped from above, preparing his kunai and aiming for the beast's eye. But before he could throw it the serpent jumped at him with its mouth wide open. The blond cursed.

* * *

The kunoichi pulled out the 'earth' scroll out of her pouch. Sakura was smiling, thinking the enemy was giving up. But Sasuke only felt even more troubled.

And how right he was. The enemy kunoichi took the scroll to her mouth and swallowed it in the same fashion as the snakes do. That was so… disgusting. If you were to see that, you would most likely feel like throwing up your breakfast.

"Well, this plan failed." The kunoichi said, licking her lips. "Oh well. No matter. I was going to fight you anyways." She looked at the Uchiha. "How about it, boy? Show me what you're made of." She grinned sadistically, and unleashed her killer intent.

Sasuke and Sakura knew the intent to kill since the mission to Wave. Zabuza had unleashed enough of it to make them sweat and cause problem with their breathing. But this was different. They both saw each other being slashed, decapitated, skinned alive, cut, having their necks twisted, crushed, stabbed and even sophisticated. And all that vision lasted merely a second. More or less. They just stood there now. Their minds returned to reality and they didn't even twitch. Sasuke almost recovered. Almost as he could only move his hand. He examined it and was surprised to see it unharmed.

'_What was that?_' he thought. '_I know I saw us being killed. Or did I?_' He wondered if this was even a killer intent at all what they were exposed to. But the enemy didn't seem to be patient, as she already pulled out her kunai. '_Move it._' He called to himself. He turned his gaze to see if Sakura was any better. It shocked him to see her completely shut off from the world, all trembling in purest form of fear. '_Great. She's taken it even worse than me._' Sasuke looked at the opponent again. She was walking towards them. '_Come on. Move. Move it!_' he shouted mentally, but his body just kept refusing to obey him. Finally the Young Uchiha bit his lips as hard and painfully as possible. "MOVE!" he yelled. He grabbed his female comrade and jumped away.

The enemy kunoichi just smiled watching her prey flee.

* * *

They finally stopped. After a whole half-an-hour race, they stopped. Sakura still seemed to be petrified, refusing to acknowledge anything happening around her. Sasuke on the other hand was sweating. Aside from that they were both trembling. Who was that woman? Her ability was beyond that of a genin. Where was Naruto? Did she get him?

"Sa-Sasu-ke?" the brunette heard. It was Sakura, who was regaining her senses. "W-What… h... h… hap-pened-d?" she forced her question out. He feared answer her. Not like he wanted to hide it from her. He was actually afraid. For the first time in years he felt so powerless and vulnerable.

"I don't know?" Sasuke finally spoke, "But this ninja is on the whole other level than us."

Then Sakura gave him a look. "You think… she got to… Naruto?"

That hit Sasuke like a kunai. That was a very likely scenario. "I hope not. Because even he, despite his resistance to damage, wouldn't last long against her." It wasn't like the Uchiha was belittling his teammate. It was a fact. There was no way even that boy of steel could last for long in a fight against someone like that kunoichi.

"Why thank you for the compliment." came a familiar voice. Both members of Team 7 backed away from where it came as they turned to find that strange, powerful woman on the branch next to them. Sasuke's eyes widened more than Sakura has ever seen. "So sorry, but your little attempt to run away was so pathetic. To think the last of the Uchiha is so precious." She mocked. But Sasuke didn't react to that. He just knew he wouldn't be able to do anything. That kunoichi would just kill him in a blink of an eye.

"Wha-what do you want?" He yelled.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked and began to move, while making the hand seals. Sasuke was looking sideways. He knew it was foolish to let your sight off the enemy, but no longer cared. Like a cornered animal, he was looking for a way out of this situation. But there was no where to run actually. She found them once. She would just find them again.

He looked at her again. She slammed her hand to the branch and called "_Summoning Jutsu!_" and in the puff of smoke, a human sized, red snake appeared. It begun to crawl towards the two, showing the intent to kill with its moves, when…

"Hold on!" Sasuke called. The enemy kunoichi held her serpent, as she was intrigued as to what the brunette was going to do. She didn't show any emotion when he pulled out his scroll. "How about an exchange? Huh? We give you the scroll and you let us go. How about it?"

The kunoichi seemed to be considering this. Then she glared at the cowardly Uchiha. She seemed mad at him. But if that was to be so, was did she smile? "Trying to bargain in order to save your life? Nice try, boy. After all, it's natural to sometimes sacrifice something in order to assure your own survival. Even a bird, that knows it can't fight back a snake, crawling into its nest, knows it's better to let it feed on its youngling if it means it can survive another day." Sasuke smiled, expecting her to just take it. But what he heard next shocked him. "However, some predators, once they have already tasted their victim, won't stop so easily 'til they hunt it down."

The snake she summoned dashed forward, jumping towards Team 7's branch. The last of the sharingan wielders pushed his pink-haired comrade aside, making fall onto another branch, as he jumped on the higher one. It didn't surprise him, when he saw the snake follow him, but it didn't give him any more confidence either. No one wants to be a prey after all. Sasuke kept jumping around the tree, from one branch to the next, trying his best to escape the reptile. But no matter how fast he moved, what maneuver he tried, the snake was always behind. When he finally thought he has lost it, the summoner appeared before him and delivered him a strong strike straight in the kisser. Sasuke was sent flying. He hit the stone-hard bark of the trunk with such force, it was a wonder he only had a headache.

"So you haven't fainted yet, have you?" the woman asked. Sasuke raised his eyes only to find the serpent, which was wrapped around the enemy kunoichi, dash towards him. Sakura, who was watching the whole time, cried in fear for her teammate.

Luckily as it seems, when the snake dug his fangs in the Uchiha, he puffed into smoke, revealing a log in his place. The kunoichi showed she was a little surprised. Her eyes ventured up, to find the kunai flying towards her pet and stabbing its head with ease. It dispersed into smoke. "So you're something after all." She said. "Wonder how you perform against me." She jumped in his direction. As soon as he saw her do that, Sasuke jumped away. Before he could land on a branch, a kunai hit his leg. Sasuke winced in pain. He barely managed to land, still forced to roll. It took him quite an effort to make he didn't roll off towards the ground. It was a long way down, which would end up with him dead. He raised his face when he heard Sakura call to him. The enemy was walking towards him, holding another kunai. She licked her lips, still showing that sadistic, bloodthirsty smile on her face. Sasuke was sweating bullets. He wouldn't avoid her attack now.

But she jumped away. And in her place three shurikens appeared. Everyone looked in the direction from which they came from, and the pink-haired girl even smiled at what she saw.

"Sorry, jerk. Somethin' 'bout seeing underneath and vigilance." A newcomer said. A newcomer, who had blonde hair and whisker-marks.

To be continued…


	19. Chapter 18 The Chunin Exams part 5

**Chapter 1****8**

**The Chunin Exams- part 5**

**Orochimaru**

There was a long lasting silence after the blonde's arrival. Sasuke and Sakura looking at him in disbelieve, as they didn't know if it really was Naruto or not. What if it was the snake summoner's teammate in disguise? What if it was some other…? No, it couldn't be. It wouldn't make sense to fool them at this situation. Plus that smile, that big, idiotic, foxy smile.

"I see I came just 'n time ta save your ass, jerk." Yup. No doubt to it now. That had to be Naruto. But the question was why was he whole covered in some slime?

"I see you managed to deal with my pet, boy." the woman mockingly said to the blond. Sakura gave her the questioning look. What did she mean?

"So that thing wuz yours?" The blond asked. Then I don't feel bad 'bout blowin' it for swallowin' me. I just regret I couldn't take some of its skin. I'm sure a bandanna or a belt made of snake skin would be cool on me." Sakura shivered when she heard what happened to him. So he was covered in some fluids. Eew. Gross. And when she thought about the snake skin, she immediately thought Sasuke would look better with these.

"Naruto! Stand down!" Sasuke called out. He wanted to warn him. "She's far beyond our level! Don't engage her!"

The blond glared at the Uchiha in the similar fashion he used to glare at others. "Are you really Uchiha Sasuke?" The gritted his teeth. But Naruto looked back at the girl. And who the hell are you to change him into a chicken?" The kunoichi smiled.

"You really want to know, don't you? But you'll have to fight me to earn the right of knowing my name, little boy."

Like it was his cue, Naruto jumped towards her. She quickly jumped away, making the blond pursue her. When she reached the trunk of the tree, she began to run upwards. Naruto quickly jumped after her. When she turned to face him, she was surprised to see how high he flew already. No genin should have the chakra control good enough to leap such height. '_He might proof even better than Sasuke_' she thought. The predator-by-nature kunoichi took her stance, ready to engage the blond in a taijutsu fight. But as he was incoming, her danger sense kicked in. She jumped down just in time, as now, where she just stood, there was a big crater. As she was falling, she couldn't help but to show her surprised look. '_This is ridiculous. This is pure muscle strength or chakra enhancement?_' she wondered as the blond finally came into view. He was glaring at her. Annoyed with the fact he couldn't land a hit on her.

"Well, I must say I'm a little impressed." She commented on Naruto, with a mocking smile. She shifted to her stance again. "But I wonder if you have something aside from that absurd strength of yours." With comment, she got the reaction she expected from the blond. In his fury, he dashed down towards her and, when he reached her, he began to deliver a series of blows and kicks. She could easily avoid them, but she knew there was a lot of strength in his attempted attacks.

Finally the blond got kicked in the side of his head and send down. He flew into the bushes below. The kunoichi smirked and turned around to find the Uchiha, who was still trembling in fear. She made the first step towards him, indicating she was going to enjoy making him suffer a terrible pain. As she made the second step, the young brunette tried to back away. But he soon reached the trunk of the tree. Sasuke mentally yelled to himself to get up and run, but his body wasn't responding. The kunoichi made her third step. Sakura wanted to so something. At least say something. She was about to cry. That snake girl was going to kill Sasuke. And it seems like nothing can stop her now.

Just as she was about to make the fourth step, the enemy's smile vanished. She jumped away just in time to see a human sized boulder fly before her. She couldn't believe it. She knew immediately it was the blonde's handiwork, but she couldn't believe he was strong enough to do this. If she was to pay more attention, however, she would have noticed the fox container was attached to the boulder. He jumped off and nailed the woman to the branch floor. Naruto didn't waste anytime and hit her in the face. But to his surprise, she dissolved to mud.

"A mud clone?" Sakura wondered. All three genins of Team 7 looked around for any trace of hers, when… "NARUTO! LOOK OUT!" The pink-haired kunoichi screamed in horror. The blond turned around only to find a kunai being stabbed into his neck. This shocked both the Uchiha and Haruno. Their teammate has been killed while protecting them. Sasuke's face was slowly shifting from fear to rage. He knew this woman was superior right now. He even warned his teammate not to engage them. But the blond still tried. And she just killed him.

So imagine everyone's surprised looks, when then the fallen blond dispersed into smoke, leaving nothing in its place. Even the blood on the enemy's kunai disappeared. '_A shadow clone? How is it that a genin knows this jutsu?_' she thought, before a fist made contact with her face. She was sent flying into the tree's trunk with a loud crack. The question was whether it was the crack of a bone or a tree. The blonde's teammates looked with awe at him for the way he handled her. '_Wow. When did Naruto… get this… good?_' Sasuke thought. He even looked down, in shame maybe, for being outdone by the class clown. Sakura on the other hand was thinking, just how much she was underestimating him. She always called him names, believing him to be just a loud idiot. But right now, he was doing all the work she thought he wouldn't handle.

The blond wanted to turn around. But he couldn't. Something just didn't feel right. That kunoichi managed to scare even Sasuke after all. So how he beat her? Or did he just beat her? Did she lower her guard while fighting him? Naruto smiled and slowly turned around, showing satisfaction of his victory, when…

"Summoning Jutsu!"

Everyone looked where the snake girl hit and from the smoke a gigantic, brown-scaled serpent dashed towards the fox-container, ramming him. Naruto was sent flying into the air and soon he hit another tree. The serpent stood still, while the woman appeared on top of its head, revealing only her clothes ragged and shredded, while her face seemed unharmed. She smiled in a way it could give anyone the goose bumps.

"I must congratulate you, boy." she said. "I wasn't expecting this kind of twist in a fight. But, with brute strength alone, you can not hope to actually beat me. You're only good for my pet as food." She gestured with her finger and the serpent opened its mouth, spitting acid at the blond. The blond managed to avoid the streams, which were now destroying the tree. But once he was in the air, he was struck with the reptilian's tail, sending him through several branches. She chuckled seeing the blond stopped moving. It just meant he was out of the way. Now nothing could stop her from getting to the Uchiha. By her command, the serpent turned around just in time to see him and Sakura trying to run away. They were heading for the lower branches. It amused her. But she wouldn't let them.

The serpent disappeared and reappeared right in front of them. It paralyzed them. They were now facing not a kunoichi with an overwhelming power and psychopathic bloodlust, but a kunoichi with an overwhelming power and psychopathic bloodlust on a 200-meters-long giant serpent. They dared not to move.

"My, I'm so disappointed with you, Uchiha Sasuke. I thought you'll be more of a challenge. But I guess I was wrong." She said in a mocking tone and signaled her pet to eat them. As it hissed, readying itself to devour the genins, a loud roar came. The snake focused on it, clearly disturbed by it.

A red blur hit it straight in the nose with incredible power. The impact was so great, the serpent hit the tree with it entire body, forcing the predator kunoichi to quickly jump off. When it fell down, now on level with the genins, everyone could see the red blur grabbing the reptile's nose. To their surprise, it was Naruto, who now had blazing, red, slit eyes, sharp teeth and long claws. The kunoichi chuckled a bit, not believing what she experienced just now. But what she saw next terrified her. The blond was crushing the serpents nose, as streams of blood began to rush from its nose, lips and from between its scales. Now there was a crack. The serpent released itself, hissing in pain, only to be punched again by the blond and send flying into the tree some distance away. The serpent finally disappeared in the puff of smoke.

This shocked everyone. Since when was Naruto ever this strong?

The blond faced the Uchiha, with a wild smile. "Hey." He started. "You're not hurt, are ya? Scaredy cat." That reason hit Sasuke like a kunai to a heart. That boy just said what the Uchiha did a long time ago, after their first, actual fight with enemy ninja. No. He was wrong. There was no way that blond idiot could now be superior. But then again, he did… No way. That wasn't right.

But the fight wasn't over yet, it seems. Something wrapped around Naruto's hands and neck, effectively restraining him. When he was send upwards, Sakura and Sasuke had a better look. It was the snake summoner's tongue. As she pulled him to herself, her tongue removed his clothing from his belly. Her eyes widened to see a black, spiral-like tattoo.

'Ah, the seal.' She thought, 'So this is the Nine-tails' container. But apparently, the seal is leaking some of its chakra. Unless, it was supposed to do that, merely keeping the boy save from harm it could do to him, the Fourth did a pretty poor work.' See took her eyes off of the seal, to see that the blond was starting to free himself. 'It appears the boy's getting more strength than I calculated. Let us fix the seal then.' She raised her hands, ran through a set of hand seals and soon the tips of all her fingers on the right hand were in blue flames, which took the shape of kanji for each element. "Five Elemental Seal!" She called.

And pressed her fingers around the boy's tattoo-seal, causing the blond to scream in agony. She kept pushing harder, to ensure the sealing would work or to make the boy feel more pain. He screamed even louder, even drooling himself. When she finally removed her fingers, revealing additional encrypting around the original seal, Naruto seemed petrified, as he didn't even flinch. She just let him go. He was on his knees just like that for a few seconds, before he finally collapsed. The snake summoner turned her attention back to the other two. And she was a little surprised at what she saw. Sakura was the same since the start, but the brunette glared a little and was no longer trembling that much.

"Wha-what have you done with Naruto?" he asked. The hostile kunoichi smiled at the growing courage of the boy.

"Oh, don't worry. I just ensured he won't get in my way any more. Now then, are you ready to actually fight me?" She asked.

Sasuke squeezed his fists. "Yeah. And I'm gonna kick your ass so badly, it's going to be impossible to tell what really happened to you!"

And he dashed towards her, delivering a set of punch-and-kick combos. But he kept missing. She didn't even have to block any of his attacks. She slapped Sasuke, sending him into the trunk. Sakura, who was quietly cheering for him, was no concerned. Why was he doing so poorly? She knew Sasuke could do better. Was there something wrong with him?

The Young Uchiha got up and ran through the sequence of hand seals. "Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" he called and blew a big ball of fire at the enemy. She simply jumped over it. Sasuke looked at her with the glare and dashed in pursuit. He jumped off the tree and pulled out his kunais, trying to cut her. She saw that and simply caught him by the wrist. Then she kicked him in the chest, sending him onto lower branch. He crashed with enough force to make a shallow crater in it. He slowly tried to get up, but it hurt him too much. He couldn't deny it to himself any more. He was going to die. She was just too strong.

He raised his head in shock when he heard her land on the other end of the branch. But she didn't look like she was going to attack. No. She just sat in the lotus position and made an unfamiliar hand seal.

"To be blunt with you, boy, I'm disappointed. I thought you'll do much better than that. Especially considering you're **his** brother." At the sound of that, Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. She knew his brother? He was involved in this? "Oh well, guess this village just can't train you younglings properly now. You'll have to do as you are for now." As she finished, her neck stretched and her head was going towards the last of the Uchiha clan, exposing her growing fangs. Sasuke knew it's better to move, but he just couldn't.

"SASUKE!" Sakura cried. Tears ran down her cheeks as she saw this. Her idol, the boy she had feelings for, was about to die.

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!"

Something happened. Something neither side expected. The snake summoner sank her fangs. But she did not sink them in the Uchiha's flesh. As she looked more carefully, she found that her fangs were in the blonde's arm. She was clearly surprised. Apparently the kunoichi did not think the boy would be able to get up this soon. What surprised her more was that Naruto, despite the pain, managed to grab her neck and, with all his strength, pull her whole body. The blond was swinging her body as if it was some sack and finally took the swing to hit that body against the trunk. While everyone expected that to end up with another boom, surprisingly there was no crater. Naruto finally let go of the woman's head, which was no longer biting his arm. Sakura and Sasuke wondered, why Naruto used so little strength, when they saw him acting strangely.

"Na-Naruto? What's with you?" Sakura finally asked.

"I… I-I don't… feel… so… goo… oooo…." He never did get the chance to finish. It would seem as if he lost his conscience, as he was now falling towards the ground. And judging by the way he was falling, he would definitely break his neck.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled and threw a kunai. She just hoped it would do its job. Or rather, that she would hit. Luckily she did. She pinned him to the tree by his shirt.

"Tch. Worthless worm." The enemy kunoichi was annoyed. "I wasted my power on him."

Now Sasuke was all frozen. Not because she was now going to have them. But because of what she said. It triggered something in him. His mind returned to that day in his life, when he heard these words. He could clearly see his sharingan, the eyes blazing in the darkness, just above the wrinkle-like birthmarks.

"_Foolish little brother. You're a waste for my power. You will never beat me as you are now. You value your worm-like existence too much, to understand strength. So live to hate. Grow with that hatred. Whenever will you see my face, despise me. Whenever you will see my eyes, wish me death. Whenever you will hear my name, curse it. Hate me every second more. Hate me, since that is all you will ever be able to do. Hate me… because you're too weak to fight me. And you will always be."_

His body stopped trembling. And from his fists blood began to run. That didn't escape the snake summoner's attention. Actually, it quite intrigued her.

"You… you…." Sasuke was trying to say something through his teeth. He was growling like mad, while hiding his face from the world. The kunoichi got a little closer, ready for any thing now.

But she didn't expect this right now. The Uchiha screamed and with the red flash in his eyes…

"FIGHT ME!" he roared, revealing his heritage. The sharingan. The young woman's eyes widened in surprise. But then she quickly smiled. This was what she expected right from the start. The Uchiha fighting her all out.

Sasuke jumped backwards and was now falling. The kunoichi followed him. They were both falling now. But the brunette threw some shurikens in her. She saw that and twisted her body in order to avoid the projectiles. Sasuke smirked at that and caught himself onto a nearby branch. Once he pulled himself, he broke it before she had the chance to follow. When she hit the ground, it happened to be a mud clone. Sasuke was a little irritated with that fact, but he had no time to complain. He looked around to find the enemy. He spotted her just in time to avoid or block a series of punches and kicks. When she finally landed a hit on him, the young Uchiha flipped backwards. He needed some distance. He was eyeing her carefully, so he wouldn't miss anything. After all, what if she manages to use a jutsu right now? He dashed at her, and both were trading blows. But neither could land a hit. What force Sasuke to back away was the sight of her kunai. He jumped off the branch onto the nearest one. To his annoyance, she followed after him. But while she managed to land on it, he didn't make it. But while he was falling, he was smiling. He made a 'ram' hand seal, and the branch exploded, making her fall. He managed to plant an explosive tag right under her. He quickly pulled out the ninja wire and wrapped it around another branch and was now sliding down it. As soon as he reached its trunk, he used his chakra to attach himself to its surface. He looked towards the enemy, who was now falling towards him. Somehow, she managed to use his trap to her advantage. But the sharingan wielder seemed prepared. He ran through another set of hand seals.

"Fire Style: Immortal Phoenix Flower!" he called. And a number of fireballs were set towards her. But not only was she able to evade them, some missed her completely.

"I may have overestimated you. You have such a bad aim." She commented in a mocking tone. To her surprise, Sasuke only smiled.

That's when she noticed the fireballs were surrounding her. When she took a closer look, she saw shurikens hidden in them. And Sasuke seemed to pull something. She felt pressure. Now she understood. The ninja wires were tied to the shurikens. The Uchiha tied her to the trunk and was ready to cast another jutsu.

"Fire Style: Great Fire Ball Jutsu!" And he blew a much bigger version of the standard jutsu. The flame quickly hit the jackpot and only a wild scream of pure agony could be heard. When it fell silent, the sound of flames followed. The brunette watched for a few more seconds, just to be sure she didn't get up. Suddenly he felt a pair of arms wrapping around him. He was relieved, somewhat, when he saw it was Sakura. She was all cheerful and crying, hugging him like mad.

"You did it, Sasuke! You beat her!" she cheered, not letting go of him. The brunette smirked.

"It was obvious. If Naruto could fight her, then why I wouldn't be able to?" the Uchiha heir commented. Of, he wouldn't admit it, but in reality, he was frightened of the enemy at the start. But the fury from the memories brought back, as well as the sight of his teammate, who got beaten, forced him to put his fear aside. Still, it intrigued him, that Naruto was able to give her such a hard time. The blond was a prankster, an idiot and a dead last, while he was the 'Rookie of the Year' and an Uchiha. Just when and how did the blond become this good?

The sound of chuckling broke the silence.

"Ku kuku. That was good, Uchiha Sssasuke. A fine performanccce." The two genins looked in shock at the kunoichi, who survived the attack. But there were two things different about her. One: she was talking with a male's voice, slithering. The other, she looked like half her face has melted, revealing now pale white skin and gold, serpent-like eye with purple marking around it. "Jussst what I've been expecting. Now I have no doubt I took the right pick. Sss." She/he took the familiar sitting position and her neck stretched again. This time she bit Sasuke. And she/he bit him in the shoulder. The brunette screamed in horrifying pain. When the head backed away, a tomoe-like feature appeared on the Uchiha's shoulder, just beneath the bite mark. Sakura examined it for the moment before she, and Sasuke, turned to the enemy.

"What did you do to Sasuke, you freak?" Sakura screeched. The snake summoner chuckled.

"Remember my name, boy." She/he said, "I am Orochimaru. And what I gave you isss the sssample of my ssstrength. Tassste it. Learn to draw upon thisss seal'sss power. For you will ssseek me for more." He said. Sakura eyes focused back on Sasuke, who now lost consciousness. As she tried to get him off the floor, a serpent showed out of nowhere and took his pouch. Sakura got frightened at first, but then she was at the verge of panic. The snake crawled to Orochimaru and handed him Uchiha's pouch. He pulled out their 'heaven' scroll and burned it. "And just to make sure your exam will be a little more interesting…" The scroll was now covered in fire. Sakura gasped when she saw this. Then Sasuke finally past out.

And the mysterious ninja sunk into the bark, completely disappearing.

The pink haired kunoichi wasn't that relieved yet. No, quite the contrary. She was even more nervous. Sasuke was out cold. The same with Naruto, though she never thought it was possible to knock him down, considering what he could take. And now she was alone, having to watch over both her teammate, who, as she realized, were the ones who always fought. Right now she regretted everything what she said about the blond being useless. She also hoped for Sasuke to wake up soon.

* * *

**Elsewhere.**

In the darkness of the forest, only the sounds of leaves and animals can be heard. That is until a human arrives. Once he does, all that beautiful music of nature is disrupted by his arrogant, greedy way. But this Orochimaru was no ordinary human. Not at all. More like an animal rather than a human being, that needed to be in harmony with nature to survive its cruel ways, he was just laying there, half sunken in the trunk of an white tree, as if asleep. Now he looked like a cocoon, from which a fully mature insect was to come out, or rather like a serpent cooling down in the shadows.

Then, a flower petal fell next to him. It seemed normal. A small, near-triangle, pink flower petal with the sweet aroma. The only thing off was… It didn't fit this forest's flora.

Orochimaru quickly moved out and away of the tree just in time to avoid an explosion, followed by a stream of acid. He chuckle, as he well remembered that jutsu.

"Niccce one, Fukiko." He complimented in a mocking tone and looked around, to find the girl dropping on him, while finishing a set of hand seals.

"Water Style: Acid Spear Jutsu!" She spitted what looked like a stream of water. But in reality, it was a highly concentrated acid, with pierced through the rock-like bark like through paper. Orochimaru was avoiding her jutsu easily. Not because it was dangerous, but because it wasn't challenging.

"Ssso dissappointing, my girl. And here I thought you were better after all thesse yearssss."

"Then you're going to love this." She ran through another set of hand seals, unfamiliar to the snake-eyed ninja. "Paradise Garden of Death!" She was being surrounded by a mass of petals, intriguing the snake-ninja. Then the colorful cloud lunched at him with high speed. Before he could move, he was covered by it. A few seconds later, one could see the streams of blood gushing every here or there. Fukiko smiled seeing this. "Well, I hope you like that, my former sensei."

"A little." A whisper from behind came. She was shocked. That was one of her strongest jutsus, and still he escaped it. Before she could react, she was nailed down by Orochimaru, who at the time removed the female face, revealing the rest of his true, pale self. She glared at him with pure hatred. It's been years since she last saw that face, and it has not changed one bit. Still the same ambitious look, caring nothing for the life of others.

"That was a good show, Fukiko." He spoke, "I was really impressed. Guess you did grow a little after all. Just too bad it is just not enough."

"Damn you!" Fukiko cursed. "Why are you here?"

"Why I have found sssomeone better ssuited for my purposssse. I wass just curiouss if he could live up to my expectationssss."

"Who is it?"

Orochimaru just smiled. "You really think I'm jussst going to tell you? Where'sss the fun in that?"

"What did you do?" she asked. Her voice was on the edge. But when he touched her in the shoulder, she immediately realized it. "No. You did not…"

"Oh yesss. I did. And I'm pretty ssure he will sssurvive. And once he tastesss the power I offered him… He will be mine." He picked her up and threw her into the tree trunk. "Ssso tell your hokage, that if he cancelsss the Exam, I will make a move against thisss village." He turned away and started to walk.

But he soon stopped.

"Oh, by the way... Tell me how isss my little experiment doing."

Fukiko's eyes widened when she heard that. Her mind projected the images of tanks filled with bluish fluids, floating infants, and, finally, one little, purple-haired baby girl. The fire, the bushes, the chase… these memories tormented her every day for the past 15 years.

"I heard you're taking quite a good care of my only living sssuper sssoldier breed. And she is ssaid to be doing great as a kunoichi. I'm even consssidering returning to the project."

It was like a flash. The woman who was in pain at first lunched at the pale man and pinned him down, pressing her kunai to his throat and dripping some acid from her mouth.

"If you come anywhere near Anko… I'LL KILL YOU!" She threatened him. She was truly furious. She was so furious, she failed to notice a kunai stabbed through her shoulder. She screamed in pain at first, and then was nailed down, destroying what happened to be a shadow clone.

"Now now, Fukiko. I don't sssuppose you want your 'coussin' to loosse the only family she hasss. Now do you?"

"I'll drown you in the pool of acid if you touch her, you freak!"

"What temper. But you're forgetting to whom you sspeak, girl!" Orochimaru growled and twisted the kunai, making the kunoichi scream in pain. And somehow, she lost consciousness. Orochimaru removed his kunai and suddenly sensed something, or someone, approaching. "It seemsss your back wass somewhat covered. *hiss* Remember to deliver my massage, girl. My kidss must do their job, after all, without any interruptionsss."

He made a 'ram' seal and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

END


	20. Chapter 19 The Chunin Exams part 6

**Chapter 19**

**The Chunin Exams- part 6**

**The survival test after match**

Sakura was sweating in fear and concern. She looked around to see the other teams that reached the tower just in time only to see the competition was going to be more than just rough, especially for her team.

After the team's fight with this Orochimaru, the pink head was looking after both her teammates for the next three days. There were hardly any moments when she left them, fearing some wild animal or other team would find them. This situation also made her realize, how much she really depended on those two. When the team from Sound arrived, she knew she had no other choice but to actually do something. She knew Sasuke would easily beat them, as he was superior in abilities, while Naruto, despite his lack of intelligence, would simply ram them. But back there, she had to do the fighting herself. Surprisingly, she was doing quite well. She didn't have any physical power like Naruto or any special arsenal of jutsus like Sasuke, but her intellect was all she needed. She had the chance to win. The place to which Sakura brought the unconscious boys, which was under an old tree just next to the river, was secured with a few traps she was able to make. Plus, she managed to outsmart them on several occasions. But just as she feared, it wasn't good enough. At one point she even lost her hair while dodging a slash coming from the brunette girl of the enemy team. Then the sound genin with a similar haircut as Kakashi raised his hands and blew her with cutting wind coming from the tubes in his hands. Sakura had some serious cuts along with the bruises from the Sound-kunoichi. Luckily Sasuke woke up just in time to save her, but something seemed off about him. His entire left arm and half his face were covered in black flame-themed markings and both his appearance and chakra seemed darker. Even the way he fought was different from usual. It was more aggressive. The Uchiha heir showed the Sound team no mercy as he beat the kunoichi out cold and dislocated the spiky head's both arms. He would have killed them, should Sakura not stop him. Maybe it was the tears or maybe her sad words, no body knows, but it stopped him, forcing the markings to disappear. The final member of the team, the one with the gauntlet, as well as the one who hurt Kabuto, surrendered and gave up their 'earth' scroll, while admitting his affiliation with Orochimaru. A few hours later, Team 7 reached the tower, with Naruto waking up just as they found the entrance.

As they entered, they were welcomed by Iruka, who explained them the meaning of the scrolls. The 'earth' scroll, when opened, said 'if you have me, but lack the 'heaven', go, seek out the knowledge.' The 'heaven' scroll had the text saying 'If you have me, but lack earth, go face the world and become strong.' The meaning was simple really. A true shinobi must be balanced both physically and mentally. Those who lacked the brain would be easily outsmarted and killed before even facing their opponent, while those who lacked the strength would easily fall in combat. This was the secondary purpose of the exam.

Now, after a day of rest, they were in a big room, which looked like an arena. There were two balconies, the stairs and a statue of a 'ram' hand seal. To Team 7's surprise, there were 8 more teams in the room, which means there were 27 people in total who made it through the second exam. Most of the teams were from Leaf Village, but there was also one team from Sand, one from Sound and one from Cloud. They were all welcomed by their Jonin-senseis, the proctors and lord hokage.

After a short congratulation speech, the aged village leader explained that the Chunin Exams also played a major role in the diplomatic field. The tradition, as some would put it, says that the Chunin Exams are to be held in different village each year, as a symbol of trust and friendship, to secure peace between the ninja villages. As he was about to announce the beginning of the third exam, he was interrupted by a sickly looking chunin, Gekko Hayate, who announced that the number of genins would have to be cut, since it was just too many of them. Well, come to think of it, there really were a lot of them.

When the rules of prelims were explained, only Kabuto took the offer of quitting, explaining he was too tired to continue.

Now, Sakura feared for her teammates. Both of them were in bad shape. Sasuke looked like he was in pain, grabbing every few minutes his shoulder, where Orochimaru bit him, leaving a mark on him. Naruto also didn't look any better. In fact, he looked just the same as when he entered the academy- sickly, weak and dying. She hasn't seen him like that since that final rejection she gave him. Even now she could see the blood from when he woke up under the tower. He shouldn't be alive now. She wanted to save them more pain, when…

"Sakura. Don't you even think about it." Sasuke caught her hand, stopping her.

"But… Sasuke, I can't let you do this to yourself." She cried. "You've already suffered enough. I wouldn't stand to see you hurt any more. E-especially with that mark on your shoulder." Naruto could easily hear them. The mark part caught his interest, making him catch his left arm, where he was bitten. "So please, don't do this. Please withdraw."

"I can't." Sasuke replied, getting her attention. "Right now, on this exam, there are some of the possibly strongest people, against whom I can measure my potential. Like I told you before… I am the avenger. If I retread now, it will mean to me that I haven't grown strong at all."

"But Sasuke, if you don't… Than I will…"

"Shut up. I told you, I will have my fights!" the Uchiha roared, making a move as if he planned on hitting her. Imagine his surprised look when he realized someone caught him. He didn't have to turn back to know who it was.

"Wha's yer problem, jerk?" Naruto asked. "She's concerned for your well bein' 'n' THIS is how you repay her?"

"It's none of your business, Naruto. I MUST face these guys here if I am to fulfill my ambition." Sasuke turned to the blond, smiling at him with his trademark superiority smile. "And you are one of those people I want to fight." Naruto and Sasuke were eying each other for a couple of seconds, before breaking it.

"Naruto, please, talk to him." The pink- haired girl begged him. "Besides, you more than anyone need to stand down."

* * *

While the genins were having their little talks, the adults were looking at Team 7.

"Lord Hokage! I request removing Uchiha Sasuke from this exam!" Fukiko, who was in bandages, requested. When the old man looked her in the eyes, he could see her fear and hatred. They all knew about Orochimaru encountering the sharingan wielder and giving him the curse seal. The village leader knew she was right. It would be safer to remove him.

"No. That would be a bad choice." Kakashi announced, getting the attention. "Firstly, he is an Uchiha. Removing him will no doubt harm his pride."

"I don't give a damn about him being an Uchiha. As far as I'm concerned he can be even Third's son and still I wouldn't care." Fukiko scolded the lazy-looking jonin. "This seal is like a fingerprint of evil itself. Those touched by it are cursed to be tainted."

"And Orochimaru is no doubt watching us. If we remove Sasuke from taking the next rounds, there's no telling where the attack will come from. By allowing him to continue, we at least can buy ourselves some time and prepare the counter attack. I say we play his game for now."

Third seemed to be at the thought. It was very risky, but Hatake had a point. If Orochimaru marked Sasuke, than he had plans for him. So it was somewhat best to keep him in the Exams for now and prepare a good plan to catch him should he reveal himself. He didn't actually like using the last Uchiha as bait, but it was the best plan for now.

"Let him continue." Hiruzen announced.

Few seconds later, a big screen showed up on the wall, just above the statue. Then it showed the first genins. Since the prelims were one-on-one fights, everyone else moved away to the balconies, leaving only Choji and a Sound-nin, Dosu, the leader of the Sound Team. Sakura felt relieved that her crush wasn't having the first fight. But…

"The first *cough* fight, Akimichi Choji of Hidden Leaf Village vs. *cough* Dosu of the Hidden *cough* Sound Village. Begin." Hayate announced.

"C'mon, Choji! Win this and I'll buy you all the barbeque beef you can eat!" Asuma called. As Choji did not wish to fight at all at the start, right now he was completely fired up. Kakashi sweat dropped at the sight, as the overweight boy reminded him of Guy. The Akimichi boy immediately seemed to turn into a huge ball, hiding his limbs and head in the clothes, like a turtle, and roll.

"Meat Tank Jutsu!" he called. He was charging at the opponent at incredible speed, ready to squash him. Unluckily for him, Dosu managed to dodge his attack. So Choji hit the wall. Before he could move, the sound-genin touched him with his gauntlet, which was actually his tool, allowing him to better vibrate the particles, and thus attack his enemies. Choji fell unconscious. Dosu was claimed victorious.

Asuma sighed seeing that. "Well it's too bad. Guess I have to buy all that beef now to cheer him up."

The board began to select the next competitors. The names were…

"Uchiha Sasuke and Zaku please come to the stage!*cough*" the referee called. Both soon moved. But before Sasuke could reach the stairs, Kakashi caught him by the shoulder.

"Don't use the sharingan." he whispered, surprising the Last Uchiha. "It'll cause less pain to your body." Sasuke nodded, though he didn't like that idea. He wanted to end this fight fast.

When the two reached the stage, Hayate called the start. Zaku, whose arms were seemingly still in bad shape, suddenly have straightened. This caught Team 7 and Team Sound off guard. They were sure Sasuke made his limbs useless for months back in the forest.

"Ha! You honestly thought I'm out, didn't you?" the Sound-genin laughed. "Too bad for you I'm in quite good shape. Now I'll blow you to smithereens. Decapitating Air Wave!"

A strong wind blew from his hands, destroying everything in its path. Sasuke was fast enough to dodge it, but he was quickly caught from behind. Zaku repeated the attack and hit the Uchiha, sending him to the floor. Sasuke was about to activate his sharingan, when he felt the familiar pain in his left shoulder. The Sound-nin was about to take this opportunity, when a smoke screen appeared around him. He was confused. When did the Uchiha manage to use the smoke bombs? Before he could figure out anything, he felt a foot to his chin, sending him flying. When he opened his eyes, he found himself floating above the Uchiha in an all too familiar way. Familiar to all who knew this technique at least. Lee and Guy sure were shocked to find he was able to copy Lee's moves.

Sasuke wanted to use this move, when the pain hit him again. And this time the marking began to appear on his body.

"What's wrong, Uchiha?" Zaku asked with a smirk on his face, "Can't handle a little pain?" Sasuke glare back at him, but gave into pain again. His opponent was about to attack him back, when…

"Yo, Sasuke, you jerk!" Naruto called to him, with signs of annoyance in his weak sounding voice. "Wha's da matta with ya? I thought ya said once ya were superior. How's that superiority whaha doin' now? I can deal with more pain than that ya know." Sasuke glared at the blond. He was at his limits now. "Don'cha dare talk 'bout bein' betta if ya can't handle that little thing. Or are all Uchiha's so overrated?"

That was the last straw.

"Shut up, idiot!" Sasuke roared, and the markings began to disappear. No one expected that. From what the Hokage learned, no one was able to control the curse mark. And yet the young brunette suppressed its power with sheer willpower. Quickly he grabbed Zaku, and threw him to the floor. When the fan-for-arms hit the floor, he was soon delivered a kick to the gut. "Lion Barrage!" Sasuke finished, and quickly jumped away from him.

Hayate walked over to examine the Sound genin.

"Zaku of the Hidden Sound is out cold. The winner is *cough* Uchiha Sasuke." The ref announced. Team 7 cheered for him.

"Sasuke, that was lame. 2 minutes and 38 seconds? Ya getting' sloppy on me?" Naruto mocked his teammate, just smirked at him, promising it to be a one time incident.

As the medics entered to take Zaku, Kakashi came and collected Sasuke.

"You did well, Sasuke. Now we'll deal with that seal before it causes you any serious damage." The one-eyed Leaf-nin said and disappeared with his student.

The board began to show the next fight. Names were Omoi of Hidden Cloud vs. Aburame Shino of Hidden Leaf. While Shino was already on his way, Omoi sighed and turned to his sensei.

"Darui- sensei, this is quite a bother this fight. I don't really feel like winning." He said.

Darui, the sensei of the Cloud team, just gave him the look very similar to Kakashi's. Come to think of it, aside from his darker skin, white, shaggy hair covering his left side of the face, bulbous nose, black clothing and a tattoo on his right arm, he was a lot like the copy-nin. He clapped the young jonin on the arm and said: "What are you talking about? You can do it. Just don't be so dull and show you stuff."

Omoi just nodded, and ran down.

* * *

**Mean while, at the different location.**

The room wasn't all that well illuminated, making it somewhat spooky. One would even believe it to be a tomb of some sorts, considering the architecture. The only light in it were several candles, set to form a circle. Within it Sasuke sat in the lotus position, his shirt removed, while his sensei was writing the next set of seals with blood. The seals were seemingly written all over the Uchiha's body, but in reality, they were written around the curse seal. Kakashi was no master of sealing, but he had enough knowledge to lock the thing Orochimaru implanted on his student. He didn't really have a choice anyhow. That thing was dangerous and had to be contained.

"Kakashi" Sasuke said, catching the jonin's attention. "You sure you know what you're doin'?"

Kakashi just smiled as he finished. "Don't worry. You will only feel some discomfort for a minute." Kakashi stood up and ran through a sequence of hand seals. When he finished, he pressed his one hand against the curse mark. "Sealing Art: Evil Suppression Jutsu!" The seals began to glow and move towards the curse seal, causing Sasuke a lot of pain. There seemed to be a light wind towards it, as the flames on the candles were blown. After a few seconds, the seals on Sasuke's body formed a small circle around Orochimaru's 'gift'. Sasuke fell unconscious, while Kakashi sighed. It worked. He feared he would hurt his student, but luckily he didn't. "It's all right now, Sasuke." He said. "Now it won't get in the way."

"Kukuku. He cccertainly is sssomething not to be taken lightly, don't you think?" a voice came from the darkness. Kakashi was shocked. Fear was clear in his eye. He quickly revealed his sharingan, to better see the one person he hoped not to see right now. His red eye, glowing in the darkness of the room, fell upon the lone, tall figure coming out from behind the pillar. Orochimaru just smiled at him. "Hello, Ssssharingan Kakassshhhi."

"Orochimaru. Why are you here?" the copy ninja glared at the pale-skinned man, who only smiled back.

"I'm to see the boy behind you, of course."

"Why are you after Sasuke?"

"Unlike me, you were lucky. You already got your handsss on it. You didn't ussse to have it before asss I recall." Kakashi's glared even more, as he was getting the idea of what he was going at. "The sshharingan, that isss. The one in your left eye." Orochimaru's smile widened, as he motioned his hand to his left eye. "I want it too. The Uchiha bloodline in my veinsssss."

"What's your game?" Kakashi asked.

"You heard about the Hidden Sssound Village, did you not? It'sss mine. You ssshhhould already know everything from jusst that."

"Your ambitions…"

"Perhapss foolisshh, when you think about it. Ssstill, for that purpossse one needss a lot of piecesss."

"And Sasuke is one of those pieces, I presume?"

"Why no, of courssse not. He'sss the vital pieccce. The othersss, the oness taking thissss exam, are nothing more then pawnsss." The serpent-like man admitted, giving a sadistic smile. One that would make anyone wet their pants.

Kakashi's eyes widened hearing that. He quickly took his stance and activated his Raikiri. "Stand away from Sasuke!" he roared. "I don't give a damn if you're one of the Legendary Three. Right now I can fight you on even ground."

Orochimaru looked at the Leaf jonin for a while, as if shocked. But soon he started to chuckle. Then it turned into a sick, mad laughter. "What's so funny?" Kakashi asked.

"All that you sssaid… All that you did isss meaninglesss. That ssseal essspeccially. Don't you underssstand? To achieve one'sss goal, one will accccepted even the mosssst evil of power with hisss heart. That's a true avenger. That'sss Sssassuke."

"So you're using that part of him for your cause. But he will ne…"

"He will ssseek me out for power. You cannot defy it." Orochimaru turned his back to the Leaf jonin and started to walk away, the sound of his footsteps disturbed only by the chirping of Raikiri. "You sssaid you were going to kill me." Kakashi seemed to be caught off guard. "Then why don't you try now? *hiss*" Orochimaru continued to walk, until he disappeared in the shades.

Kakashi just stood there for a few more seconds before he finally dispelled his jutsu. He visibly relaxed and even fell to his knees, shaking and sweating.

'_Fight him on even grounds? I must be a complete fool._' Kakashi thought, trying to collect himself.

* * *

**Back with the fights…**

Everyone seemed to be surprised or disgusted by what they were seeing. Shino and Omoi's fight continued, but what they saw wasn't something one would want to even read about. The Cloud genin was entirely covered with bugs and was about to faint.

"Damn it. This doesn't look good. I knew I should have asked Darui-sensei to let me quit. Maybe than I would get the chance to…" Omoi was saying, until lost consciousness. Aburame Shino was declared the winner. Neji wondered a little who that kid was, and Guy quickly answered his unspoken question.

"That's the Aburame for you. Every clan member has a number of the destruction beetles nested into their bodies, turning them into living hives."

"Say what…?" Neji and Lee both jumped back hearing that.

"That's how it is." Guy continued, "The share a symbiosis. The clan member makes him or herself a living hive and allows them to feed on bit of their chakra and in return the beetles fight for him or her. The beetles' special feat in battle is considered to be their ability to suck opponent's chakra."

"This guy is challenging." Neji said.

Sakura and Naruto watched carefully as Shino was walking up the stairs, when Kakashi appeared next to them.

"Kakashi-sensei." Naruto cheered.

"How's Sasuke?" Sakura asked. Kakashi just eye-smiled to her.

"It's going to be fine." He reassured her. She felt relieved.

Everyone turned their attention back to the board. The next two genins were showed.

"Will Temari of the Desert *cough* from Hidden Sand vs. Ten Ten from the Hidden *cough* Leaf please *cough* come down to the battle floor." Hayate called. Soon enough, the two girls showed up.

"Go Ten Ten! Show your stuff!" Lee called.

"It's your Springtime of Youth!" Guy followed, giving the girl an annoyed look.

"Those two…" Ten Ten growled under her breath. "Hey, ref, can we start it already before I feel like forfeiting out of embarrassment?"

Hayate nodded. "Fourth fight, Temari of the Desert vs. TenTen, begin!"

As soon as the beginning of the fight was announced, Ten Ten reached for her pouch and pulled out a scroll. When she unrolled it, she had a kusarigama in her hands. She was about to attack her opponent when the blond unsheathed her weapon, revealed to be a huge fan.

"Sickle Weasel Jutsu!" she waved her fan and caught the brown-haired kunoichi in a small tornado, which was shredding her. When Ten Ten was finally falling, she hit Temari's folded fan. The Sand kunoichi arrogantly smiled. "Is it over already?"

The referee nodded. "The winner: Temari."

Every Leaf-nin had an owlish look on their faces. This fight was incredibly short. No one saw that coming. Then the board lighted the next set of names. Yamanaka Ino vs. Haruno Sakura.

When these names showed up, the two looked at each other. They both smirked. This was something they've been waiting for a long time now.

The two were facing each other on the arena floor, both waiting for the start.

"I'm surprised you haven't forfeited yet, Forehead." Ino said. "I mean, seriously, you think you have what it takes to be a kunoichi?"

Sakura seemed to look down. She remembered the time the two became friends, when they were starting the academy. Sakura used to be bullied right from the start by others because of her forehead. And she was also bad with some stuff, only because she lacked her confidence. But one day, during the outdoor lesson, when they doing flower arrangement, Ino stood up in her defense. Since then, the two bonded.

Now they were forced to fight one another. This wasn't really something she wanted to happen. Not like this at least. But still…

She would be no friend if she was to just give up like that. No. As a true friend, she wasn't allowed to hold back. Sakura clenched her fists and took her stance. She was going to fight.

"If I'm a bad ninja material, that what are you, Ino?" Sakura asked. The blond growled and was now also ready to fight.

"The fifth fight, Yamanaka Ino vs. Haruno Sakura, begin!"

The two kunoichis launched at each other. Both started by pulling out their shurikens. When they all deflected it selves, Sakura created two clones. And all three dashed at Ino.

'_Just a __Clone Jutsu__? A jutsu like that can't beat me, Sakura._' Ino thought. She tried to hit the one to the right, but her punch ran through her. She saw the other trying to jump kick her. The blond blocked the kick, which only phased through her flesh. And before Ino knew it, she was delivered a punch to the gut and send flying. Ino collected herself and stood up.

"What's wrong, Ino-pig? You can't keep up with the only girl worthy of Sasuke?" Sakura mocked her. Ino glared at her. You could truly see fire in her eyes. Her teammates even trembled at that.

'THERE'S TOTALLY NO WAY I'M LOOSING TO YOU, SAKURA!' the Inner-Ino yelled. Ino pulled out her kunai and cut her ponytail, surprising everyone. "I've so had it with you, Forehead! There's no way I'm holding back now!" she threw her hair. Now there was a small field of blond hair between Sakura and Ino. The blond made a familiar hand seal.

"Ino, what are you doing?" Shikamaru yelled. "Without me to assist you, this jutsu will fail. It's too troublesome in these circumstances."

"I don't give a damn." Ino yelled back.

"You should listen to your teammate." Sakura cut in, "This jutsu is strong, but it has one major flaw. It's extremely slow and has moves in straight line. I can run out of the line of fire before you catch me with it."

Ino just smirked and pressed her hands against the hair. "Not if I do THIS." Before Sakura noticed, the hair Ino cut earlier was now wrapped around her legs, effectively immobilizing her. "How do you like my chakra robe? Now there's no way that I'll miss. Mind Body Transfer Jutsu!" Both girls stiffened. Then Ino's body fell like a rag doll, while Sakura straightened up.

"Sorry, Sakura." Sakura said. "But you're so going down."

Kakashi's eye widened, as well as Naruto's. Sakura was taken over by Ino. This was famous Yamanaka clan's jutsu, which allowed transferring one's mind into another's body and take them over. 'Sakura' raised her hand, getting referee's attention.

"I, Haruno Sakura, for…"

"Sakura!" Naruto cried, catching everyone's attention. "What the hell do you think your doin', pinky? Don'cha dare loose to her like that!" Naruto yelled. Then Kakashi noticed something intriguing. The knucklehead smiled. "If you loose here like that, you really think Sasuke will even look at you?"

Ino-Sakura just glared at the Uzumaki, annoyed with his yelling. She was going to say something, when…

"What the…?" the possessed kunoichi stiffened. As she blinked, Ino found herself no longer in the tower, but in some dark place. When she looked behind, she saw a huge Sakura standing above her and grabbing her. "What? A split personality?"

"Naruto is annoying, but, damn, he's right.' The Inner-Sakura screeched. "Sasuke won't look at me if I loose to you like that. So… GET OUT OF MY HEAD, INO-PIG!" She yelled, shaking Ino madly. Ino decided it's best to release the jutsu.

Both girls opened their eyes and faced each other again. They were both tired after that mental fight. Kakashi looked, in disbelieve, at them and at Naruto. He stated he will have to buy himself a pair of glasses.

Sakura and Ino gathered all their strength. They both knew this will be their last hit. So they dashed at each other and delivered a strong blow. They both were knocked out.

"Since it's a draw, both competitors are out." Hayate announced after examining the girls.

A minute later, the next competitors came to the stage- Yori and Niigetsu Ryu. But Kakashi and Asuma paid little attention, for the moment. After the looked after their bruises, they returned to the fight. Ino and Sakura both woke up and looked at each other. Sakura had a depressed look on her face.

"What's wrong, Sakura?" Ino asked.

"It's just that… I lost." Sakura cried. "I thought I was strong enough. I thought that ever since we became genins… when we promised ourselves not to lose Sasuke to another, I tried to prove myself to be a strong kunoichi. But it was always Naruto and Sasuke doing all the work, while I was just behind them." A single tear ran down her cheek. She shut her eyes as the memories of Wave and the first day in the Forest of Death ran through her mind. Indeed, she always hid behind her teammates. "I thought I was a great asset to the team, but I didn't grow as strong as I always thought. I could only end up in a draw." Sakura opened her eyes, regretting her failure. What she saw surprised her. It was a flower. She followed the hand holding it, to find Ino smiling at her.

"Hey, At least you didn't loose to me. As Asuma-sensei says 'when in battle, it's not the winning that count's the most, but not to loose.'" Sakura's eyes widened. "You have grown to become a marvelous flower, Sakura. I'm so glad to call you a friend." Ino's smile widened, making the pink-haired kunoichi smile back. "But watch out, 'cause next time I'm totally winning."

"As if, Ino-pig. No way am I loosing to you." Sakura screeched back. They both girls glared at each other and after a few seconds they laughed. They were truly best friends and rivals.

Then a scream of pain caught their attention.

On the arena floor, Yori, the Leaf-nin who was dressed in similar fashion as Kabuto, plus wore a bandana, face mask and sunglasses, was pressed to the floor. There was a chain wrapped around his neck, coming out from his own shadow. Ryu, who was standing a good distance from him, was holding the rest of it and pulling it from the shadow.

"I admit it's quite an ability to suck chakra from your opponent by mere touch." The Niigetsu clan member admitted with a cocky smile and tone. "However… it's useless if you can't touch me." He pulled harder, choking his opponent tighter. Finally Ryu let go of the chain, allowing Yori to straighten up, only to be hit with the kunai's ring-side and knocked down. Ryu faced the referee. "Just announce the end all ready. This guy was pathetic." Hayate walked over to the K.O.-ed genin and examined him.

"Yori is no longer able to continue. The winner is Niigetsu Ryu." Hayate announced. "And *cough* the next fight is… *cough*!"

The board began to show the next names. The names were…

To be continued…


	21. Chapter 20 The Chunin Exams part 7

**Chapter ****20**

**The Chunin Exams- part 7**

**The fast and the furious**

Shikamaru's eye twitched. He just didn't understand it. Why did he have fight a girl? His opponent was Akemi, the kunoichi from Hidden Cloud. He carefully eyed her, hoping this fight won't be too troublesome. But this girl was just smiling at him, as if trying to seduce him. Well, she was quite a looker.

"The seventh *cough* fight, Nara Shikamaru *cough* and Akemi, begin! *cough*" Hayate called. Without wasting any time, the Cloud kunoichi jumped away, taking greater distance, and threw three shurikens at the lazy Leaf genin. Shikamaru ducked just in time and threw his kunai at her. Judging from what one could see, she wouldn't manage to dodge it. So imagine his surprised when she disappeared and reappeared just a foot away, as if the young Nara had a bad aim. She blinked to him and dashed towards him. Shikamaru stood up ready to engage her, though something different ran through his mind. He wasn't the type to do any work. No way. As soon as she reached him, he jumped away. He began to run and stopped on the statue. From there he looked at the Cloud kunoichi, ready to attack her. So he pulled out five shurikens and threw them. But she just disappeared. Shikamaru looked around to find her, but she was no where to be found.

"Shika! Behind you!" Ino cried. Shikamaru turn just in time to find his opponent, who was already half way from delivering a kick to his back. She hit, sending Shikamaru down to the floor, only to have him bounce into the wall. Shikamaru pulled himself together and stood up, to see the dark skinned girl disappear and reappear before him. In shock, the Nara kid jumped away.

"Oh, what's wrong?" Akemi asked in a flirty tone, "Can't keep your eye on a beauty like me?"

"What the…? What kind of jutsu is that?" Shikamaru asked.

"Well, you can't expect the daughter of the Raikage to be sloppy, can you? I am the fastest genin in all Cloud Village, dubbed 'Cloud's Mach Queen'." She proudly admitted surprising everyone with the fact she's the daughter of the raikage.

"Cloud's… Mach Queen?"

"Damn straight. By channeling my chakra to the right muscles in my legs in the right amount I can give my self enough speed boost to move at the speed of sound itself. As of right now I can run at the speed of mach 2, but it's still fast enough to take you down before you can react." She disappeared again and reappeared right next to Shikamaru, delivering him a strong elbow hit to the side of his head. The Nara hit the statue, or rather he would, but Akemi reappeared behind him and high heeled him, sending him upwards. When Shikamaru hit the floor, he wasn't moving so smoothly. The 'Cloud's Mach Queen' was about to dash again but for some reason she decided to run at normal speed. '_I already used my '__Sonic Marathon Jutsu__' five times. If I use it one more time and waste it, the next time I try to use it will make legs useless for a few days._' She thought. She was already above the barely moving Nara kid and reach for her pouch. "When in battle, speed is vital. If you're fast enough, whether it's just the timing or your body or jutsu speed, you can quickly and easily take down any opponent, no matter how durable he is." She pulled out what looked like a small ball made of paper. "This little ball contains a sleeping drug. Enough to knock you out for two hours. G'night."

As Akemi was about to throw it, she felt her body go numb. She didn't know why. She knew her opponent didn't manage to land a hit on her. She looked down to see him smile.

"Sorry, but my jutsu caught you." Shikamaru laughed. He stood up to show his shadow deformed and attached to her shadow. She was surprised.

"Well, Shikamaru can at least you the situation to his advantage, even if he is at the disadvantage." Asuma commented.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu! Great work Shikamaru!" Choji called.

"Shadow Jutsu? Just like the Niigetsu?" Ino asked "Are these clans…?"

"They are relative clans." Asuma started. "There was once a man who could manipulate the shadows freely, who later had two sons. One was named Shikanami the Deer Tamer, who tamed all the deers in the forest. And the other was Takaya the Two Moons, who wielded two moon-shaped blades. One mastered only those powers which could restrain his opponents, as he respected life and believed that the key to victory lays in capturing his foes. The other one mastered only those which allowed him sneak at the opponent and strike him down before he even left the shadows, believing that victory lays in fast attack and secrecy. As their father was unable to choose the successor before his death, the two brothers fought each other for many years with none gaining the upper hand. Years later they had a granddaughter each, who made peace between the clans, each named in honor of their titles- Nara clan in honor of Shikanami and Niigetsu after Takaya. These clans may be still divided, but they are like family still, not united into one simply as a reminder of the clans' founding history."

Ino nodded in understanding. The two clans shared similar abilities and were brother-clans, but because of the two, after whom the houses were named, it was believed safer to keep the clans from uniting into one. The separation was a bitter reminder of the clans' origins.

Back at the arena, Shikamaru was backing away, ready to throw his kunai at his opponent. The problem was, as long as this jutsu was active, the opponent acted like a mirror image. Shikamaru suddenly stopped and began to think about something.

'_How troublesome. With the damage I've already taken, I won't be able to get her to knock herself out by hitting the wall with her head. I could use that knock out gas against her, but seeing as she was ready to use it from this close she might be immune to it. Let's see… the speed of sound is 300 meters per second. That's mach one. Meaning she can move up to 600… I'll have to time it right._' Shikamaru thought. He soon threw his weapon, as she threw her. Their projectiles passed each other and now were the most delicate issue. Shikamaru aimed for her head with the ring side. He was all nervous. If he lets go too late, they'll both be out. But if he lets go too early, she will dodge it. He knew that. That was the worse part.

But luckily he was smart. He finally released his jutsu and barely dodged the bomb. At the same time as he let go, before the metal could hit her, Akemi disappeared.

"What?" Shikamaru shouted. He was able to see that. Barely, but he managed. "It can't be. The only way she could dodge it would be…"

He never finished, as he was kicked in the gut and send flying into the wall.

"Sorry, smart guy. But I lied. I don't move at the speed of mach 2. I move at the speed of mach 2 and a half. You had your chance and you…" she pointed at the barely conscious Nara, ready to attack and finish him, when…

"Hey, Akemi, remember what I told you about your uniform?" Omoi called. Akemi looked at him with a strange expression, completely confused. She looked down to check what's wrong with her outfit… which wasn't there.

Most of the male genins had some blood rushing from their noses, while the jonins and the Hokage blushed and turned away. Some kunoichis though, mainly Sakura and Ino, looked and Akemi with the look of jealousy. Akemi finally covered herself and disappeared, using her sonic speed. This time however, instead of a sonic boom there was 'now I'll never get married!' sound. Darui slapped his face in disbelieve. How was he going to explain this to the raikage?

"Since *cough* Akemi of the Cloud *cough* left the battle stage before the *cough* end of the fight, the winner is *cough* Nara Shikamaru." Hayate announced. Shikamaru just murmured 'troublesome' under his nose.

"So this girl lost loosing her dignity at the same time." Kakashi commented. "My money was on Sakura."

Sakura finally couldn't stand it. "Why does everybody keep saying that?"

* * *

A minute past before the board began to select the next fighters. Everyone left was nervous. These fights were getting ridiculous with each next fight. Naruto even began to pray he doesn't go against Anko, the Sand genins, the remaining Cloud genin or Lee. Kami must have been watching over him since the board didn't show his name. Kuromaru however seemed pleased, giving a terrifying, pain promising smile. Ganju jumped down to the stage and was already facing his opponent- J of the Cloud.

"The eighth fight, Ganju from the Hidden Leaf vs. J from the Hidden Cloud, begin."

As soon as the ref called the start, J jumped at his opponent. Ganju managed to jump away just in time as J punched a hole in the floor. He looked at Ganju, who pulled out four strangely shaped shurikens.

"Oh, so his gonna use this at the very start?" Kuromaru said.

"Going use what, Kuromaru?" Kakashi asked in full curiosity.

"Just watch. I pity the fool, for what's comin' to him."

Kakashi had a question mark hovering above his head. As he looked down, he saw Kuromaru's genin threw his tools around his opponent. Then he pulled out a scroll, unrolled it and unsealed some kind of a box. Before he picked it up, he made a few hand seals.

"Life Leeching Cage!" The box opened itself, while the shurikens began to glow. Before J reacted, he was covered in bluish flames, which began to be sucked into the box. J just stood there for a little while longer, until Darui called.

"J, MOVE IT! THIS JUTSU IS SUCKING OUT YOUR CHAKRA!" J heard the call and charged. But as he was about to leave the field, he felt he hit something. He seemed to be trapped. Kakashi's eye widened.

"What is…?"

"That's Ganju's specialty." The Brute of the Leaf spoke, "Within my team no one is as fearsome as he is. His both the team's sealing specialist and tools expert. What you see is his original creation. This jutsu allows his to trap the opponent in a small field and suck out his chakra, which he stores for later usage."

"He's using this kind of skill?"

"Ganju is a strange type, considering that those who use taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu are becoming predictable. So he prefers to use something out of the ordinary. This is his dream. To become a great specialist in the field of tools and sealing."

"So he's a genius?"

Kuromaru gave him a ridiculous look. "And you don't want to know the prize for his level of intellect."

Back at the stage, J was punching the invisible walls, trying to find a way out. Ganju just smile seeing his efforts. But J soon just grabbed the shurikens and crushed them, canceling the jutsu. Ganju gulped.

Before he knew it, the Cloud-nin charged at him and successfully delivered a strong blow to his gut, sending him across the room. When the Leaf genin managed to find his footing, a piece of his coat fell of, turning into a tag.

"A tag?" Sakura asked. "Is his coat made out of tags?"

"Not quite." Ryu began to explain. "This coat is made out of armor tags. Each tag, in theory, can shield him from up to two punches, absorbing chakra and kinetic energy, which otherwise would hurt him. When one tag absorbs enough of it, it will fall off, becoming useless."

Sakura wasn't hiding her admiration. This Ganju was someone one the high level. Kakashi even begun to believe that he would be able to beat Sasuke, if they were to fight now.

"That was quite impressive." Ganju spoke. "I never actually thought the enemy would be collected enough as to think about removing the shurikens themselves to free one self. You are quite a challenge. But on the other hand I get to experiment on you with my newly developed drug." Ganju announced, pulling out a small vial with a red, glowing liquid.

The two charged at each other. J pulled out his kunai and threw it at his opponent. Ganju jumped upwards, which was J's plan all along. He managed to catch him and began to crush him in a bear hug. Ganju was about to scream, he rather smiled. He opened the vial and threw it into the Cloud genin's throat, forcing him to swallow it by punching his face. When J let him go, Ganju jumped away and watched his opponent seemingly choking.

"Oh no, don't worry. This drug was designed to interfere with chakra flow, making it to slow one's metabolism to the rate where one would fall into coma. But since I never had any one willing to test this, I hope you will wake up eventually." Everyone sweat dropped hearing that.

"So his mad." Kakashi commented. "I sure pity you."

"Pray you don't see the rest of it." The bold jonin said seriously. Apparently, there was something worse to it.

J seemed to be giving into Ganju's drug. Already falling to his knees, fighting to stay conscious. Ganju smiled and turned towards the stairs. Before he made it half way, he felt a chakra spike. This was a strange feeling. Like a roar of a wild animal, ready to jump at you from you blind spot. When he turned around, he found his opponent getting up. But that's not what interested him the most. The guy was changing. He was changing into kind of a hulking monster. He muscles already so big his body was now covered in veins, as if the skin could no longer stretch. J was now about 238 cm tall, looking like an abomination on steroids and shaking uncontrollably, wanting nothing but to crush his opponent. Ganju's jaw dropped.

"What the hell are you, dude?" he asked, not accepting this view before him. J just turned to face him.

"I AM THE JUGGERNAUT, BITCH!" J roared and charged at the Leaf genin. His speed has increased drastically. Ganju didn't even manage to move when he saw the Cloud nin charging. The hulking genin delivered a powerful blow to the Leaf nin, sending him flying across the room and crashing into the statue. When Ganju managed to rise, there were mere two sleeves left from his coat.

"Aww man. Dude, you have any idea how difficult it is to make this?" Ganju cried. Then his irritation disappeared, as J seemed to care only about beating him. He quickly jumped away just in time before the Cloud nin managed to land a hit on him again. When he saw him charging up again, Ganju seemed to throw everything he had. He was setting the barriers, which didn't seem to work at all. J finally stopped before the Leaf nin and roared, making him already muscular neck look even more unrealistic. Ganju started to tremble. He raised his hand and turned to the referee.

"Um… Ref? I… w-wish to…"

"Don't even think about it, Ganju!" Kuromaru roared, releasing his killer intent. "I'm warning you, brat. If you finish that sentence, I'm gonna lock you up with my cats for the next two months."

Ganju paled. He stopped trembling, gulped and said: "Then forgive me for what I'm about to do, Kuro-sensei."

Ganju pulled out a flare and set it on. Then he turned his back to J, confusing him completely. Team 12's eyes widened.

"No. Anything but that!" Anko cried, plugging her nose. "Naru, hit the deck!"

"Everybody, don't look and plug your noses!" Ryu followed.

"Don't do it!" Kuromaru begged.

But it was too late.

"Fire Style: Fart Thrower!" Ganju called, pulling and his pants and farting. Thanks to the flare, there was a huge fireball hitting the Cloud nin. The flame was so strong it reached half the room. The sound of farting was so loud it was the only thing anyone could hear. And everyone gave the expression of disgust. After a few seconds, it finally ended. Ganju pulled his pants up just as he finished and faced his opponent, who seemed petrified.

"And now the finisher. Jackass Jutsu!" Ganju called and…

Basically, he kicked J in the crouch. The Cloud nin, for reasons unknown sounded like an elephant and chakra began to flow out of him like air out of the balloon. Finally, when he returned to normal, he caught his hurt jewels and with a girly voice said: "That was a low blow." He finally fainted.

Ganju turned to the ref. "Hey, aren't you going to, I don't know, check up on him or something?"

"Considering *cough* what you just did… NO WAY I'M *cough* GETTING ANYWHERE NEAR YOU! NO WAY I'M LETTING *cough* A SCREWBALL LIKE *cough* YOU TO THE NEXT ROUND! YOU'RE DISQUALIFIED! NO WINNER!" Hayate yelled with his nose plugged. Ganju fainted in shock hearing that.

"Well, he could end up setting the audience on fire." Kuromaru commented. The two students with him nodded in agreement. Kakashi and Asuma turned to the bald jonin, looking at him in more fear than ever.

"Where the hell did you pick that nuts case from? A nuts house?" Asuma asked.

"Wish I knew what kind of mad man placed him in the academy in the first place." The weapon master answered. No one noticed as the Hokage scratched the side of his face nervously.

* * *

Few minutes past before the next fight, as it took a lot of time, and air refresher, to clear the air in the room. And it still lasted. Darui apologizes for his student pushing his opponent to this, despise it wasn't really his fault, and with his team left. Hokage mentally noted to send a letter to the Raikage, sorry for having his genins out before the finals. Still, he couldn't help but be impressed with them. He heard of their physical training regime, but didn't expect what he saw. He even theorized they're feeding with steroids.

Using the break time, Naruto went into the bathroom. But instead of taking a leak, he just stood before the mirror. When looked at his reflection, noticed his skin was pale, as if he was hiding from the sun for days, the eyes were red, like he haven't slept in days, which was even more reliable with the dark rings under his eyes. But he didn't need to look in the mirror to know he wasn't in a good shape. He felt badly. As if his body was on fire, his vision a bit blurry lately. He washed his face and ran out, not wanting to miss another fight.

"Well look who's here." A familiar voice came from behind. The blond got startled a bit. When he turned around, he saw him- Kiba. Naruto had quite a dislike for him right now. Don't get it wrong, He and Kiba were good friends back in the academy. But the Inuzuka kid had a habbit of making fun of Naruto's condition. "So, what's up, zombie boy? Feelin' like fainting?" he mocked. Uzumaki just glared at him.

"Hell with you, Kiba." He roared, "Just wait 'til my turn. I'll show you how much I changed lately."

"Ha! Wha'cha going to do? Spit in enemy's face?"

Naruto clenched his fists, ready to attack Kiba, when they heard someone yelling. They both knew it came from the battle stage. They both raced there to find the end of another fight. They couldn't believe they missed it. The fight was between the Sand genin in the cat suit, who was using a puppet, and a Leaf genin, most likely Kabuto's other teammate. The Sand nin walked past them, giving them a dirty look. So they glared back.

"Oh, I see *cough* made it just in time. *cough*" Hayate said, getting their attention. Kiba and Naruto had big question marks over their heads, until the referee pointed to the board. The tenth fight was between them. Kiba smirked under his nose, as he was having an easy fight, he was going to wipe the floor with the blond and set a new record in these prelims. Naruto just grabbed his arm. It was covered by the sleeve of his orange jacket he was now wearing normally, but Kakashi could tell it hurt him. He wondered why.

**To be continued…**

* * *

**A/N. Since there was a lot of complaining about Naruto's way of talking, I'll drop the accents. You win. Well, see you there.**

Naruto: Hey! How come I have to fight Kiba? I've fought him in the original already.

Me: Well, people enjoyed that fight.

Naruto: So what?

Kakashi: Calm down, Naruto. Just deal with it. It's not like you're going to win in your current condition.

Naruto: Hey!


	22. Chapter 21 The Chunin Exams part 8

**Chapter 21**

**The Chunin Exams- part 8**

**The will to fight  
**

They both were glaring at each other, just waiting for the signal to start. Kiba had a wild smile on his face. He had no doubt this fight was going to be short. He wasn't even going to need Akamaru, his puppy ninja dog, for assistance. Damn, he wouldn't even break a sweat. He remembered well, that back in the academy, Naruto was weak and sickly, loosing every taijutsu session. Back in room 301, he may have looked better, but right now he looked like a living corpse. He stated the blond was pretending to be healthier back then. Even now, right here, before him, the blond looked like was about to faint.

Naruto could see the Inuzuka's expression. He was mad with it. He was mad that he was being taken so lightly. He growled under his breath, wanting to give him a piece of his own mind. Then he felt a bit of pain through his body. That did not escape Hayate's notice.

"You don't look too well. Perhaps you should quit?" Hayate suggested. The blond just sarcastically smiled.

"Like you're the one to talk." Naruto replied. The ref just chuckled in response. Then Naruto turned to Kiba. "Hey, dog breath. Just don't go complainin' after you get your ass handed to you on a silver platter."

Kiba growled. "Shut up, you shrimp. You're in no position to talk like that." Akamaru barked in agreement. "Hey, ref, maybe you should just call this fight off. You can see him barely standing. And I don't wanna be held responsible for killing him."

"If this was a real battle, *cough* his condition wouldn't matter. *cough* You would still have to fight." Hayate explained.

Back with the audience, Kakashi eyed Naruto carefully. He was worried with the blonde's current condition. He has never seen his student like this before. He wondered if he got poisoned or something. When he asked Sakura about it, she didn't say anything. She didn't even know if there was anything to tell about. After that Orochimaru guy bit Naruto and Sasuke, only Sasuke had a strange mark on his body. Plus, unlike the Uchiha heir, the blond didn't wake up with psychopathic tendencies or covered in markings. So she believed there was nothing to worry about. However, now she was worried. She hasn't seen the knucklehead look like that in a year. That reminded her of that final rejection she gave him, bringing back the regret from that event.

Flashback

"_C'mon, Sakura. It's my treat." Naruto said, smiling like mad. He wanted to invite Sakura to the ramen shop for the new dish Teuchi, the owner, was making.__ The boy it to be a perfect chance to invite the pink haired girl, who was in the middle of kunai throwing practice. She merely glared at him._

"_I thought I said no, Naruto. And that's the best you'll hear from me. Now beat it." She rejected him, focusing back on her exercise. Naruto groaned._

"_But why, Sakura? Why is it?"_

"_Because you're an annoying idiot. A delinquent, who keeps ruining the village property with his pranks. A looser with no talent or constitution for a shinobi or, in your case, a person at all. Plus, you keep getting in my way of love with Sasuke." Sakura answered him harshly._

"_Sasuke, Sasuke. You make it sound like you're actually a couple. Last I checked Sasuke rejected you as well." Naruto casually said it, not noticing Sakura was trembling in annoyance. It was true that Sasuke rejected her, when she asked him for a date, but she hated when somebody reminded her. And that hit the nerve as she, in blind fury, threw her kunai at Naruto and hit him in the heart from behind._

"_SHUT UP, UZUMAKI!" she roared. When she realized what she has done, she panicked. She walked over to the blond to check on him, when she heard footsteps. As she turned, she saw Kotetsu and his best friend, Izumo, a chunin with brown hair covering half his face, coming into view. She called for them. The two immediately ran over and took Naruto to the hospital. She did explain it was an accident, but she did earn some scolding. However, she didn't get any strict punishment. She was merely not allowed any weapon training for three months._

_She truly feared she killed Naruto. So imagine her surprise when she saw him two weeks later back at the academy. But strangely, he seemed better than ever. Usually the blond had this aura of weakness, looking like he was going to collapse and scrawny. Now he looked healthy, no longer pale, with stronger stature, visibly more body, as if he was always in top human condition possible at his age. She wanted to both apologize to him as well as asked how he was, but he simply gave her a cold shoulder._

_Ever since that day, he never asked her out again._

Flashback end

Naruto seemed to remember that day as well. He was growling madly.

"Hey, ref, start the fight already!" Naruto shouted at Hayate. "I refuse to let that guy win because I fell asleep before the fight!" he pointed at Kiba.

"The tenth fight, *cough* Uzumaki Naruto vs. Inuzuka Kiba, begin!" Hayate announced and jumped back. He was certain the two will dash at each other.

How wrong he was.

Neither Kiba nor Naruto moved an inch. They were like statues. Just eyeing each other. Finally Kiba broke the silence.

"What's the matter, small fry? Can't take it?"

"Can't take what?" Naruto was confused.

Kiba chuckled. "Take the free shot." That bold claim got everyone's attention, but Naruto soon started to growl. "C'mon, I dare ya. If you can land a good punch on me, I'll admit I was wrong and take you seriously. C'mon. You can go for my gut, my face, with a punch, a head butt or a kick. Just take the hit, shrimp."

Shikamaru and Ino didn't know whether to be mad at the Inuzuka for his attitude towards Naruto or laugh for having the guts to toy with him. Choji just didn't want to look. Anko wished she could now just come down and kick the dog boy's ass 'til he was half dead, while Hinata apparently wanted to tell Kiba to stop mocking the blond. Sakura seemed a bit upset or annoyed, while the other genins didn't show any sign of emotions. The jonins on the other hand, along with Lord Third, were pretty angry with the Inuzuka's tactics.

Naruto finally dashed forward, towards Kiba and hit him in the jaw. Kakashi and Sakura had their eyes widened. The blond went for it and delivered blow right in the Inuzuka's kisser. But soon they and the blond noticed something wrong. Kiba wasn't sent flying like he should be. He merely smirked.

"Is that all?" the dog user asked. Naruto backed a little in disbelieve. "All that talk about how much stronger you've become, that you became a real, hardcore badass, who easily crushed a huge snake, and this is what you've got? You really were just pretending to be all better."

Naruto growled again and attacked Kiba again. Only this time, the wild looking genin decided to dodge the attacks. Judging by his smile and moves, one could easily figure out, he wasn't really at his top speed. That didn't escape Naruto's notice.

'_What the…? He keeps dodging my attacks so easily. Is he really that faster than me?_' Naruto thought. After another combo of kicks and punches, a thought crossed his mind. '_No, it's not that he's faster. It's me who's not fast. But how come? I know I am faster than this._' Naruto wondered, as he made some distance between him and Kiba. Than he remembered the snake summoner. '_That chick… whatever she did to me back in the forest must be suppressing my power. Great, just when I might need it. Guess I'll have to do this without it._' Naruto smiled a little as he reached for his pouch. Kakashi noticed this and wondered what Naruto was up to.

"Guess he decided not to rely on his insane physical power. Finally Naruto shows some brain." The lazy jonin commented, getting Sakura's attention.

"What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Isn't it obvious? For some reason, Naruto is not using his strength or speed. I don't know why, but it might be actually good, so he doesn't grow to depend on them." Sakura turned to see her teammate. She had an idea as to why he wasn't using his power, but decided to be quiet about it. Naruto was unpredictable after all. Who knows? Maybe he will actually win this.

Naruto pulled out something from his pouch and charged at Kiba. About halfway there, he threw what ever he pulled out and it exploded right under the Inuzuka's feet. It was a smoke bomb. Kiba got surprised as he couldn't suddenly see anything. The blond used that and decided to attack from the left. The smoke lifted enough for the both to see one another. Naruto was ready to use his kunai to attack this time and jumped at his opponent.

He would have hit him if it wasn't for the dog. Akamaru, a small, white ninja dog and partner to Kiba, jumped at Naruto, taking him down. Naruto caught the dog, collected himself and threw the ninja animal towards Kiba, who caught the pup safely in his arms.

"What the hell, Kiba? You havin' a dog to watch your back?" Naruto screeched at Kiba, who just smiled.

"Of course I have. Akamaru is my partner. We fight as one. He watches my back and I watch his." After that little explanation, Kiba gave his dog a pill and made a hand seal. "Now I'll show you how we fight. Ninja Arts: Beast Mimicry: All Fours Jutsu!" Kiba called out. Then they both began to change. Kiba's wild appearance became even wilder, growing his fangs longer and changing his nails into claws. Akamaru, on the other hand, seemed to become more feral and his fur changed color from white to red. "Now this is how you deliver the punch!"

Kiba dashed at an incredible speed, which Naruto couldn't really follow. And before he knew it, he was hit in the back and send to Akamaru. The ninja dog wasted no time and head butted the blond, sending him towards the wall. Luckily, Naruto did loose his consciousness, at leaped against the wall, refusing to fall. But couldn't defy the pain running through his body. It was unbearable. Like someone broke his rips with a sledge hammer. From both sides. The blond coughed some blood, enough to make a small puddle, and groaned in frustration. He eyed the Inuzuka, who just smiled back. He dashed again and hit him again, but when Akamaru was about to hit him, Naruto elbowed him, sending the dog to the other side of the room. Then both Kiba and his pup jumped at him, wanting to hit him from both sides at the time. But Naruto was waiting for it. He managed to dodge just in time, and the canine duo hit each other. When they collected themselves, they each looked to their rights, only to meet an elbow to the face. That one was actually quite painful. Before Kiba could take a better look at the situation, a smoke bomb exploded. Naruto was now ready to attack. He only ran to the other side and reached for his pouch.

"Whoa. Is this really Naruto?" Ino asked in disbelieve. "His actually giving Kiba a hard time this time, despite it being two-on-one."

"To have such a good timing between the shadow clone and evasion, there's no way it can be him." Shikamaru followed.

'_Well, finally, Naruto's using his brain the way he's supposed to. For once._' Kakashi thought. '_Still, to show so much intellect… Either Naruto's really good at pretending stupid or he just so stupid that he seems smart now._'

'_What ever training you gave him, Kakashi, it sure improved his abilities._' Asuma thought.

"Go, Naru! Kick the stinker's ass!" Anko yelled.

'_Naruto, you doing great._' Hinata thought, cheering for him.

"Well now, that shrimp isn't doing that badly." Kankuro commented, while Garra just looked.

'_Heh, the brat's handling himself quite well._' Kuromaru thought, making a serious face. '_Guess it'll be better to take that to the rest of the Enforcers. If he wins, that is._'

'I admit this isn't the same goof ball as before, Kakashi. But still he can't win against Kiba.' Kurenai thought.

Naruto pulled out a kunai and an explosive tag. He was ready to throw it, but…

"Ninja Arts: Beast Mimicry: Beast-to-man Clone Jutsu!" A yell came, and what followed were Kiba and another Kiba ran out the smoke and delivered the punch to Naruto's face, sending him flying. When the blond stopped rolling, he struggled to get up. His body felt heavy, but he was still able to stand, breathing hard and clearly having trouble with holding his own body weight. "Are you surprised, twerp?" Kiba caught his attention. "My sense of smell is just as strong as Akamaru's when I channel my chakra to my nose. I could tell your position all along. There's no way you can hide from me."

The blond was irritated. He didn't know how much longer he would take it. It's a miracle he's standing even now. Back at the academy he never lasted this long while weak. After that incident a year ago, he could endure more, even win a spar or two, but now he was pathetically weak again. And Kiba was the type to hit hard.

Kiba wasted no time and launched at the blond again, followed by Akamaru. The two running in a zigzag track. The blond couldn't really tell what their game is. Why did they need to do that? It quickly hit him, when they separated. Then, they started running at him from two sides, and…

"Piercing Fang!" the young Inuzuka called and he and his partner jumped and immediately started to rotate at such speed, one could swear they turned into drilling bullets. Naruto knew he should move, but he couldn't. His body felt so heavy. Plus, he knew he didn't have enough speed. And as expected, he got hit. Naruto was sent flying upwards, his clothes, mainly his jacket, torn and ragged, blood covering his jaw and lips. He fell and was just laying there. Motionless, like he was dead. Hayate made a few steps to see if the blond was out, but before he made more than five steps, he noticed the blond started to move again.

Kiba noticed that too, but merely smirked. "You just don't know when it's over. Do you twerp?" He asked. Naruto just struggled, wanting to get up. But no matter how much strength he put into it, his struggles proofed futile. He just lacked the strength. Whatever seems to seal his power away, all that beating… His body was at limits. He couldn't win.

"I'm not… going… to… loose… I… I will… surpass… Hokage." He murmured loudly enough for Kiba and Hayate to hear. Kiba just started to laugh. Madly.

"Are you serious? You? Surpass the hokage? I must've damaged your head pretty damn good." The dog-fighter mocked the blond. His words must've affected him, as the blond seemed to have stopped. "Tell ya what. If you really want a hokage, I'll become one. After all, someone like you would only embarrass the title."

Naruto's body fell like a rock. That surprised some of the people, namely Anko, Kakashi, Sakura, Hinata and Sarutobi Hiruzen. They did not expect the boy to give in so easily. Sakura even started to call to the blond teammate to get up, while the referee was walking towards him. At the same time, Kiba and Akamaru turned their backs and started to walk towards the stairs, confident of their victory.

For the blond everything was blurry. The vision, the sound, the floor on which he lied, as if he was half asleep. He wanted to fight, to show he wasn't a pushover. But as Kiba's words echoed in his mind, he recalled as the villagers used to do that as well. He wondered if there was a point to it at all. And now a simple logic hit him. Without the strength, he was a no one who could easily be beaten by anyone. But if he was to have it, he would be using the Fox's power, proving their point. No, that wouldn't do. Nothing would. He just wanted to fall asleep. He would quit being a ninja. He would quit his dream. He would leave it behind him. He would throw all that aside and think of an alternative, where he would be happy. He allowed the darkness to take him.

* * *

"_Are you really that pathetic?" a question came._

_Naruto opened his eyes in shock and got up, surprised to hear this, as well as to find he was able to get up so easily. He looked around, and to his surprise, everything looked as if time itself stopped. He didn't know what to think of it. He couldn't understand what happened._

_Then a shadow appeared before him. And the way it appeared reminded him of these markings on Sasuke earlier. Naruto couldn't tell what that guy looked like as he was all blurry. Only his eyes were clear. His blood red sclera, ocean blue iris and slit pupil, which seemed to penetrate to the very core of the blonde's being. All the fox-container could see in these eyes was inhuman hatred._

"_You really are going to just lay there and let this mutt to walk away with it?" he asked. "You are supposed to be the superior one. You will not allow this worthless worm to humiliate you."_

"_What… are you?" Naruto asked. "And where am I? Why did everything freeze? Was it your jutsu?"_

"_You're slow, aren't you? Fine then. Let me explain it to you. This is not the real world. This is the world within your psyche." The silhouette explained, walking around Kiba. "This world is the very one your mind perceived before you collapsed. In other words: this is the memory of the place before now. Before finding yourself here, inside your mind."_

"_So I'm unconscious? You mean I lost?"_

"_Hm, no… not yet. The reality and this 'mindscape', as I prefer to call it, are not synchronized. Time here flies faster then in the real world." The shadow answered. "But we're getting off topic, wasting precious time. Time in the real world just flows slower than in this one, so my guess is, ref already made two more steps if not more. Meaning you have just about three minutes before declares your defeat."_

"_What of it?" Uzumaki asked._

"_WHAT DO YA MEAN 'WHAT OF IT?', YOU IDIOT?" the shadow strangely acted in a way familiar to the blond. Like him when hearing something irritating. "Isn't it clear? You still have to beat this canine idiot to the bloody pulp, showing him how insignificant he really is compared to you." A sadistic/ psychopathic smile show on his face, making Naruto start to fear him. Who was that guy?_

"_No." he simply stated. "No matter what I try, I will never win. I fight him, the villagers will be more convinced that I am the Nine Tails. And if I surrender, they will have more of the opportunity to get me. I lost before I even started this game. And I can't even move now." Naruto fell to his knees, grabbing his head. He seemed so hopeless._

_The silhouette gritted his teeth. "If you won't do anything, than I will take over your body and rip the dog's head off." That caught the blonde's attention. "After all, You admitted yourself to be hopeless. This body and power within it deserve a stronger persona. If you're such a cry baby, then why shouldn't I just cut in your place. Then, I'll show the villagers that what they can't accept will… annihilate them."_

_Naruto's eyes grew in size. Who or whatever this guy was, he just wanted to kill. Was this the Fox itself? Is it trying to take him over?_

"_No. You can't do this." Naruto said. The shade just chuckled._

"_Really? And what are you going to do about it?"_

_Naruto dashed at him and tried to punch him. However, with no surprise, he couldn't land a hit. After a few attempts, the shadow slapped the blond, sending him flying across the stage._

"_Do you see? You can't even hold me back. Besides, you already stated you lost whatever fight there is between you and the Hidden Leaf Village. So why not just cease to exist? It'll be easier for ya." He chuckled, mocking the blond. Naruto got up, painfully, and charged again. He didn't want him to do any harm to his friends, which he was sure was that freak's intention. But was slapped away again. The blond struggled to get up and once he did, he charged again and again._

"_Why bother?" the shade asked, "You gave up already and yet you seek to stop me? You really are stupid. He hehe." He finally punched Naruto in the gut, sending him into the wall. The blond could feel his consciousness, or rather his awareness, slipping, as his enemy just chuckled. "No matter. It's not like you can do anything without that power of yours. Face it: you're just a weakling, worth nothing but to be a punching bag."_

_These words seemed to hit him. He recalled as everyone in the academy, especially Kiba, used to say and treat him the same way. And this guy was doing the same thing. But this time, his weakness seemed to be a threat._

_He was walking towards 'Kiba', ready to decapitate him. He had the power, he could deal with him with ease. He could now take over this body and take life after life, growing stronger in time to finally take the lives of countless beings. He would be free. Then something felt different. The shadow turned, as he felt a chakra spike. It was coming from the blond, who was now on his feet. He smirked, seeing him so stubbornly standing._

"_What's this? You're really that glutton for punishment?" the psychopathic phantom asked. As the blond didn't seem to react, the shade gritted his teeth and dashed at him, ready to deliver a punch. "THEN I'LL HAPPILY END YOUR EXISTENCE FOR YOU, YOU PATHETIC ABOMINATION!" he cried, enclosing on Naruto at incredible speed. He was sure that punch would kill him._

_But as he was about to deliver the punch, the fox-container side-stepped in a blur, surprising the shade. He wondered what happened. He looked around and found the blond standing next to 'Hayate'. He just stood there, as if he was always there. Then his body seemed to be covered with blue fire. No, it was chakra. The silhouette gained some more contrast, and now, aside from his eyes, his teeth could be seen as he smiled, revealing animalistic fangs. "You surprised me. But it's futile still. You said it yourself that it's hopeless." The shadow jumped at the blond again, wanting to kill him for real this time as he was moving even faster. "WHY DON"T YOU JUST MAKE IT EASIER ON YOUSELF AND GIVE UP ALREADY?" He was about to hit him._

_But Naruto blocked his punch with his own. The shade didn't hide his shock. He couldn't. this boy was now different. Strong._

"_Give up?" the blond asked. "Maybe I can't have the villagers to change their view of me. Maybe they'll try to kill me until they succeed. I don't care how long I'll have struggle. It doesn't matter." His voice was showing more confidence with each sentence, each word. The shade started to show fear in his eyes. "I will NEVER run away again! I REFUSE TO GIVE UP!"_

_As the blond shouted out the last sentence, he delivered an uppercut punch, sending the shade flying. As it hit the floor and tried to get up, he could hear the buzzing. "__Stunning Light Whip__!" he heard Naruto call. Before he could react, the blond caught him in his jutsu. He felt his body go numb, as Naruto pulled him to himself and delivered a punch to his gut._

_To his surprise, the shade was ripped in two. Naruto wondered if he killed him, although it wasn't his intention. The chuckling coming from his enemy surprised his._

"_Well done, idiot." The shade spoke, gaining even more contrast as he began to disappear. The blond wondered if that injury wasn't burning his pieces like fire. "The strong will, determination, will to win and survive. That is what you lacked. This is your source of strength. Draw upon it whenever you'll feel weaker. Remember, the opposite of that will bring an end to your friends, but you'll be the one at fault." As the shade said that, he turned. His face was mostly in shadows, revealing only a little of his face. What Naruto could catch from it was… whisker marks on his cheek? What the… "Remember these markings on the Uchiha's body earlier? That was the Snake Freak's gift, as she gave it to you. But don't worry about it. It's been dealt with already, though at the price."_

"'_At the price'? What do ya…?"_

"_We don't have time for details, now do we? But don't worry. We'll meet again soon enough. Now go, use you freed strength and beat that dog hard, or else I'll take you over. Haha haha. Bwa haha hehe. BWA HAHAHA HAAAA ha ha ha!" He laughed maniacally, finally disappearing. Then the blond noticed the shadows growing bigger and darker, when his own started to wrap around him. But he wasn't afraid of it. He just smiled confidently. He made his decision._

* * *

**Back in the real world.**

Hayate was walking towards him. At the same time, Kiba and Akamaru turned their backs and started to walk towards the stairs, confident of their victory. There was no doubt who would be the winner.

"Man, that fight was lame." Kankuro commented with boredom in his voice.

"I agree." Temari added. "That kid shouldn't have become a ninja if he can't handle it." She heard Gaara murmuring something.

"Oh, Naruto. That was pathetic." Lee said. "I though you were more youthful."

"Get up Naruto! Don't you dare lose to this jerk like this! You hear me?" Sakura cried. Kakashi sighed in disappointment, while Kurenai smirked at his student's victory.

"Na-Naruto, please, stand up." Hinata whispered.

"This can't be it, Shorty. Naru, get up now. Please! Otherwise I'll leave you in this forest for a month without supervising your training!" Anko yelled out.

"Well, I can't say I'm disappointed. This fight was troublesome enough to watch." The Nara genius commented.

"Whatever, it was so obvious that Kiba would win, one way or another." Ino added.

Hayate was just two steps away from Naruto, ready two kneel beside him to check on him. He could tell the boy was unconscious, but it was better to see to his condition for his safety. Then he felt something. Every jonin, chunin and even Lord Hokage himself suddenly seemed to sense something. That didn't escape the genins' notice. Especially when the referee backed away a little. Kiba stopped only when he noticed Akamaru, still as Kiba's clone, stop and turn around. The young Inuzuka clan-member thought that Akamaru just turned to look at their victory, when he heard the dog's whimpering. When the dog trainer-nin looked at the blond himself, he couldn't understand, what got into his dog. The blond wasn't moving.

But then even the genins felt it. That sudden chakra spike. Before anyone could comment on it, the blond was already surrounded with chakra. No one wanted to believe it. They all thought it was just their imagination, until the blond finally moved his hand. And then, he was getting up. And as he was on his knees, the hokage and jonins noticed something about his pale skin. It seemed to be pulling back. After a few seconds, when the blond was already on his feet, they all saw it turn into black, claw marks-themed marking on the blonde's body. Their eyes grew in terror to find another one with the curse seal.

'_A curse seal? On Naruto? But how? There wasn't anything on his body. And wasn't Orochimaru after Sasuke?_' Hiruzen thought. But his fears turned to amusement, when he saw the marking pressed back into the seal on his arm and then, as if touched by a heated iron, burned away. '_He… He got rid of the seal. How is that even possible?_' that question ran through the head of every jonin and chunin who saw that. But they putted that aside when they noticed Naruto's chakra level still growing, as well as Naruto's appearance returning to his healthier one.

The blond raised his head and, when he opened his eyes, glared at his opponent, overwhelming him with a killer intent everyone could feel. "Now then, Kiba, it's ass whoopin' time." Naruto declared, forming a smile on his lips. Kiba quickly recovered and chuckled.

"Ha, you're right. I'm gonna beat you with more power. This time there'll be no way for you to get up." The Inuzuka said and got ready to attack.

"You don't get it. I'm back." The blond commented.

"Yeah. Back for further humiliation." Kiba and Akamaru both ran at the blond, in a scissor path again. After a few steps, anyone standing in Naruto's position would've sworn that one Kiba disappeared. Naruto didn't seem to see anything or get it, but Kiba appeared before him in a blink of an eye and delivered a barrage of punches to his gut and face. His final blow was to the gut. The blond somewhat curled under the force of the attack and started to shake. Kiba smiled wildly. "That's it. Why didn't you just give up? Now you'll just land in the hospital for the next couple of weeks." Instead of an answer, Kiba just heard the blonde's groans.

To his surprise, everyone's surprise, these groans turned into chuckle, and then into a slight laughter. And when Naruto raised his head, showing his eye to the Inuzuka…

"What's the matter? Your punches suddenly turned from painful to ticklish." He said.

Kiba was surprised to hear that. No, to see that shocked him even more. He knew that this attack was strong enough to knock down anyone not fast enough to avoid it. Plus, Kiba was known for high offensive. To hear that his attack was nothing more than a tickle to the blond… No, that wasn't right. He should be down long time ago. He gritted his teeth. He was messing with him. Kiba jumped away to join Akamaru's side. Then they launched together.

"I don't know how you endured that last attack, pipsqueak, but you won't be standing after this one!" Kiba shouted and both he and his dog started that jutsu. "Piercing Fang!" the two were incoming towards the blond, this time at full force. Their spinning and speed could say that they were not taking him lightly. Hayate saw this end wanted to interfere, but he was too late. To his surprise, the blond disappeared in a puff of smoke, right after the two bullets hit the target. One of them suddenly stopped spinning, showing a stupid expression of disbelieve and blank eyes. Kiba was so surprised, that he hit the wall with his head. Once he pulled himself together, he started sniffing to find the blond knucklehead.

"Looking for me, Stench-for-brain?" Kiba heard. He looked at the statue, to find the blond take off his shredded jacket and tie it around his waist. After that, he jumped down to the floor and started to walk towards him. "Now it's my turn to attack, I believe." The blond mocked. Kiba was irritated for a second, until he recalled how weak his attacks were.

"Well go on ahead, idiot. You still won't be able to…" As Kiba was saying that, full of confidence, the blond got ready to dash. Kurenai suddenly got nervous. Something wasn't right.

"Kiba! Keep your distance!" She called. Kiba heard her, but didn't understand what got into her. His opponent was a sickly little punk. So why should he be careful that badly.

When he saw Naruto turn into a blur, he understood it. The kid was no longer a pest with no power. It was a real behemoth, as he could tell by the punch in the face that sent him across the stage and into the wall.

Everyone's eyes grew in size seeing this.

"Is that… really… Naruto?" Ino asked.

"No way… that's him." Choji answered, wetting his pants. Now he was happy he was out of the game.

"This guy is too troublesome to fight with." Shikamaru followed. At the same time, Anko started to cheer for Naruto like a cheerleader- minus the uniform.

"Kakashi." Asuma called to him. "What were you feeding that kid? Steroids?"

"I wonder." The one-eyed jonin said. Then he noticed Sakura started to tremble. He didn't know, but if Sakura was to bash him now, she would probably end up in the hospital for years.

"Oh yeah!" Lee shouted. "Now that is youthful. That kid is a real challenge to suddenly turn out into a super strong fighter… No, wait. That must've been an act. Naruto made an incredible thing to trick his opponent like that!"

"Indeed, Lee" Guy followed. "That kid is certainly burning with Flames of Youth to be this strong, despite his stature and age."

"Guy-sensei! I want to spar with hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim!" Lee shouted, turning realistic.

"Then I will see to it you will! I will prepare a super total training session for you, so you can one day challenge him and a super total punishment should we fail!" Guy declared, also turning realistic.

"Guy-sensei/ Lee!" They hugged, making everyone sick.

Back at the stage, Kiba pulled himself together, rubbing his face in pain. He NEVER saw this one coming. He stared at the blond, who made a 'cross' hand seal.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto called, creating two clones. Then he threw them at Kiba and Akamaru and, while in flying, one of the clones called out the whip jutsu and caught the Akamaru, pulling him towards himself. The two stopped some distance from each other and 'Naruto' made 'ram' hand seal. "Stunning Light Whip: Charge!" And as he called, the whip disrupted, shocking 'Kiba' with electric charge and breaking the jutsu.

As Kiba was able to dodge 'Naruto', that hit the wall behind him, he saw he partner defeated. In rage, he pulled out his kunai and threw it and Naruto. "Why you… You should've given up when you had the chance!" The kunai hit the target. But it dispersed.

"No." said Naruto, which hit the wall earlier. "I will fight to the end, no matter the odds." Kiba turned to see him delivering a barrage of punches. "So don't ever look down at me." The memories of the academy days and Kiba's mockery flashed again before the blonde's eyes. "I will NEVER GIVE UP. THAT'S MY NINJA WAY!" He was ready to deliver the final blow. "Thunder God Drum!" he hit the Inuzuka with everything he had, sending him into the statue, which cracked. Every genin was at awe by the display of pure physical strength in that last punch. They even feared he killed the poor dog trainer.

When the cloud of dust fell, Hayate didn't waste anytime and checked on the fallen genin. Meanwhile Naruto seemed to be at thought, while observing his hands. '_It's not my full strength, about a tenth of it seems lacking, but it's not that bad._' The blond thought and smiled in satisfaction and looked at the ref.

"The *cough* winner is Uzumaki Naruto!" Hayate declared.

Everyone cheered. At least the genins- in a way. The jonins only exchanged the 'is this genin even human?' look.

As Naruto climbed up the stairs and was passing by, Hinata gathered her courage and called. "N-Naruto?"

"Huh?" Naruto faced her, a little confused. "What is it?"

"We-well… I, um…*gulp*" She turned to him and… "L-let me… s-see to your… in-inju-ry." She pulled out her small first aid kit. Kurenai smirked seeing that. Than she looked at her student, who was being carried out.

'_Sorry, Kiba. You fought well, but it was your arrogance that brought your downfall. Well, who knows, this may actually be a good lesson for you. Better luck next time._' She thought, as Kiba and the medics disappeared.

**To be continued…**

* * *

A.N./ Phew... That one was long. hope you like it.**  
**


	23. Chapter 22 The Chunin Exams part 9

**A.N/ To be honest, I don't feel like writing the last three fights. So I'll just ****describe them shortly. I apologies if some of you expected these fights.**

**Chapter 22**

**The Chunin Exams- part 9**

**The finalists**** revealed**

After Naruto's fight, the final three matches went quite drastically. First, Neji beat Hinata, his cousin, half dead, intending to kill her. Hinata should have withdrawn, as many suggested her, but she wouldn't do that. The Hyuga heiress wanted to proof her strength, her worth, as her father declared her weak. She also wanted someone to notice her. A boy she had feelings for. She wanted Naruto to see her as a strong person too. As a person who too didn't want to give up. When she was being taken away, Neji just insulted Naruto calling Hinata and their ninja way a ridiculous comedy. The blond declared he would beat the Hyuga for Hinata.

Next was Gaara's fight with Rock Lee, which ended when Gaara crushed Lee's leg and arm with his sand. Though if it wasn't for his sand, which acted like armor, Lee would've won. But not even his ability to open four of eight inner gates helped.

Finally, the last match between Anko and Kin, which was a little less destructive, ended quite fast. Kin had a chance when using her bells. Unluckily, she was within Anko genjutsu, which made her see what she wanted to see. Then she was knocked out with a taijutsu barrage. She even wanted to use fire jutsu, but Kuromaru threatened to feed her to the wolves should she do that. Anko, of course, cooperated.

The Hokage congratulated the 11 finalists. Now they could proceed to the official final round. Firstly, they had to choose the numbers. After the little lottery, they knew their opponent.

Fight 1: Niigetsu Ryu vs. Kankuro of the Desert

Fight 2: Temari of the Desert vs. Nara Shikamaru

Fight 3: Uchiha Sasuke vs. Gaara of the Desert

Fight 4: Aburame Shino vs. Mitarashi Anko

Fight 5: Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuga Neji

Fight 6: Dosu vs. Fight 5 winner

Then came the rules of the final exam. First off, they had one month to prepare. That was to give them time and prepare some new tactics or improve the abilities they did not perform yet. Plus, they needed to prepare the events for the daimyos, the nobles and other-would-be-clients. Secondly, dispite it looking like a contest, it didn't really mean that the winner would be promoted. Their performance in the fights would determine who would be promoted. Meaning, they could all be promoted or none.

Sometime later, after leaving that damn cursed forest at last, each of the finalists went their separate ways. Naruto was dashing towards the hospital, where Kakashi was supposed to be. He wanted to ask him to train him for the finals. Especially since his opponent was the destiny-obsessed Neji of the Hyuga clan. Seeing how he beat Hinata, the blond needed to be sure he'll win.

As soon as he arrived to the hospital, he made his way to the reception, to find out which room Sasuke was in. When on the staircase, he was visibly getting fired up. He was so positive his sensei will help him. He stopped when he heard his sensei talking with someone. To the elders, judging by the other two voices.

* * *

"His opponent is quite a strong one. And the youngest child of the Kazekage at that." Homura said. "And his going to fight the young Uchiha."

"Kakashi!" Koharu decided to continue, "Considering this fight may have an affect on the village itself, Sasuke must win. Train him to win this fight."

Kakashi looked at them both with a serious expression. "I'm not really sure I can afford that." He said, scratching the back of his head. "He will be recovering for quite a while. And Orochimaru might be watching him. Plus, I have another student who made it to the finals and I doubt Lord Hokage will appreciate me focusing on just one student."

"That's not acceptable!" Koharu objected. "This is the fight of the 'Last Uchiha' against the son of the other village leader! If the Uchiha is really in a bad shape as you say, than that's more than enough reason to train him alone!"

"If you spare some time on Uzumaki, it may ruin the Uchiha's performance!" the male elder continued.

"But…"

"Leave the Hokage to us. We'll explain the necessity for you to focus on Sasuke alone."

"Well that's great." Kakashi replied, with a satisfied tone. "After all, that blond would just be a waste of my time. And considering how much time I have to train Sasuke, I'm pretty sure I'll make my favorite student the 'Chunin of the Year'."

The elders smiled and nodded. "Be sure to train somewhere far from people's sight." Homura added. "It'll provide you more privacy."

"Rather, it will spare me having to listen to the dead-last's requests to train him for the whole month." Kakashi replied. The elders nodded and walked away. Kakashi sighed in relief. '_Damn those fossils. I'd better do something about Naruto, before…_' the one-eyed jonin thought, when he heard something from the staircase on the opposite side of the hall. He ran to check it out, but he found nothing.

* * *

**Training Ground 04**

Neji stood still, doing some breathing exercise, to prepare both mentally and spiritually. The sound of exhaled air was disrupted only by the light breeze, which was seemingly delivering some refreshment to the young Hyuga. The sound of leafs and grass rustling in the air, somehow forming a nice, calming aura to the place, helped him to focus his mind. His opponent was the only thing he could think of. The blond was superior in all physical aspects-speed, strength, stamina, endurance, reflexes and agility. But that could be overcome with this jutsu. He would master it and defeat the blond, proofing him his point. It was his destiny to win. He turned to his teammate, Ten Ten, who was still covered in bandages, but decided to help the Hyuga branch member prepare for the finals.

"You ready, Ten Ten?" Neji asked, receiving a nod in response.

"Ready when you are." She replied, pulling out her scrolls. It was time for some serious training.

* * *

**In the Hidden Leaf Village.**

Naruto was sitting on the bench, watching the stormy cloud passing over the Hokage Monument. Somehow, watching these clouds always calmed him. He couldn't tell why, but for him, it was beautiful. Like watching an unearthly performance, while the thunders sounded like a sing of hundreds of wonderful spirits. And the lights were like all the trouble disappearing in the flash. He just enjoyed it, like hypnotized. The blond was trying to relax while the clouds off in the distance were having their play. But, he couldn't get it out of his mind. It bothered him so badly, he felt down. He decided to go to 'Ichiraku's' and grab a bite. As he ran off, Kakashi just arrived, cursing for not catching the blond in time.

"Damn it. I needed to brief Naruto on the situation. Oh well, I can do that a little later." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, yellow note book and opened it. "Now then, let's see… who owns me a favor?"

* * *

**Training ****Ground 12**

Anko and Ryu were eating their beloved food. The purple haired kunoichi was definitely like a black hole while devouring her dango, while the green-haired lad was eating like mad tons of sushi. Watching them eat was somewhat funny, though they were eating like pigs. Well, that's because they were having a competition at the same time. They wanted to see which one would manage to eat their dish within three minutes. Of course, this was their usual challenge. Ever since they graduated and had nothing better to do, they were competing like this. And every time they would only end it in a draw…. And a day with a stomachache.

One might ask why they were doing that. That's because they were waiting for their sensei. Right after Anko's fight, he told them to wait for him on training ground 12. And since they were bored, they decided to have their usual competition. And as the timer rang…

"I WIN!" both shouted.

"What are you talking about, you mutant-head?" Anko screeched. "It's my win! I have only two sticks left!"

"You must be brain damaged, you psycho!" Ryu yelled back. "I've got only three slices left!"

"Then you lost!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"YEAH?"

"YEAH!"

"No." A stoic, yet for some unknown reason death-promising voice cut in. The two genins stopped their bickering, while having the chills and turned towards the pole, which suddenly fell down. As the dust fell, it revealed their sensei, Nekokage Kuromaru in whole his sadistic glory. When the genins saw that sadistic, pain-loving smile on his face, they paled. "You were having your lil' competition again, weren't you?"

"U-us? We…. Err… we-well, umm… Y-yeah, s-s-sort… of." They both answered. And then seemed confused, when the bald jonin made a friendly face and chuckled.

"Well isn't that cute?" His genins felt relieved seeing him in a good mood. But it was too beautiful to last. "BUT IT'S WRONG!" he shouted at them, sounding like a fog horn. His genins were frightened again. "You guys have merely one month to prepare for the finals and you're wasting that time for your idiocies. Guess I have no choice. I intended to let you guys prepare on your own. But I clearly will have to supervise you training starting today." He made a few hand seals and touched his brancelets, making a pure psychopathic smile that would make anyone wet themselves. "And I intend to push you right from the start, using my genetic ability. (**A/N.: This is how I would dub kekkei genkai and this is how I'm going to keep it in this fic**.) Hope you wrote your last will, worms."

As he said that and drop the heavy, spiky bracelets, both Anko and Ryu paled even further, having tears fill their eyes and hugging each other in pure fear. Their sensei was going to annihilate them. Their screams were so loud even Lord Hokage could hear them in his tower.

* * *

**At Ichiraku'****s**

The 'Ichiraku's Ramen Shop', 'Ichiraku's' for short, was Naruto's favorite stand. He practically came here everyday for a few dozen bowls of ramen. The owner, Ichiraku, was a very kind and friendly person, who seemed to have a certain liking for the blond knucklehead. Especially since Naruto could eat tones of ramen and not get sick of it. Just like right now. Though the fox-container didn't seem like in a good mood. He was eating rather slowly. Clearly something was bothering him. But the cook-and-manager knew the kid well enough to know, its best not to ask him about it just yet.

Then Kakashi showed up behind the blond.

"Yo." He announced his presence, expecting his most unpredictable student to energetically jump at him, asking for training.

And all he got was a cold shoulder. "Hello, sensei." was all the blond said, catching the one-eyed ninja off guard.

"Um… Is everything alright, Naruto?"

"Nothing for you to be concerned about."

Kakashi scratched his head. He didn't really get this kid. He thought the blond would be running around, full of energy, after he entered the finals. Oh well.

"Well then… Let me just tell you something." As he said that, Naruto seemed to turn his attention to the silver-haired jonin. "You see, there is a situation and I came to tell you that…" he never finished that sentence, as he just noticed Naruto wasn't on the seat. As he looked around, he noticed him casually walking away, a pretty far distance away in fact. Despite the mask, the jonin's jaw fell to the stomach level, while his hair seemed to dance. "WHEN DID HE MOVE?" He body flickered himself to the blonde's side, visibly irritated. "You know, you could at least tell me you were leaving."

"Hm… nope. I would be just wastin' your time." Naruto replied, passing the jonin. As Kakashi thought what the blond meant, he heard his student continue. "Why don't you just disappear with your favorite student already, so he can win his 'most important for this village' fight?"

Then it hit him. Naruto heard his conversation with the elders. Kakashi truly felt bad with it.

"N-Naruto! Hear me out, will you?" Kakashi nervously spoke to the blond. "Wha-aat I told the elders was to get them off my back. I didn't really mean that part about you… I-I mean everything." Kakashi hoped the kid would believe him. The truth was he was mad with the way the elders had him deal with his students. He didn't want to focus on just one of them. And now, he was paying the price for not objecting them, as the blond didn't seem to listen to him. "Okay, so I messed up… But, Naruto, I did ask for a favor and you'll get someone, cross my heart, competent and skilled to train you." He tried to cheer Naruto. That was the least he could try now. As the blond stopped, the silver-hair jonin felt relief. Maybe the blond didn't despise him yet.

"Don't bother." Naruto answered and ran off, disappearing in an alley.

Kakashi looked down in shame. This was not how he wanted things to go. Alas, they did. He felt a pat on his shoulder. When the Copy-cat turned, he saw Ebisu standing behind him.

"Something wrong, Kakashi?" he asked. Kakashi only sighed.

"A lot, in fact." He replied.

* * *

**Training Ground 04**

Ino was walking through the forest, searching for her teammates. Since Shikamaru entered the finals, she decided to help whatever way she could. She may have not advanced, but she intended to make sure her lazy teammate didn't humiliate himself in his fight.

When she finally found them, her jaw dropped, seeing them doing nothing but sleeping and eating. So, like a good teammate that she is, she kicked Shikamaru to wake him up.

"WAKE UP, YOU LAZY IDIOT!" she screeched. The Nara kid gave her an annoyed look.

"Ino, you're troublesome. Don't you know it's not right to break a guy's nap?"

"What are you talking about? You have thirty days until the Chunin Exams Finals, and you intend to do nothing but sleep?"

…

"Yes." The blond girl fell hearing that reply from her teammate. Then she caught him by the neck and started to shake him like mad.

"YOU IMBECIL! YOU SHOULD BE TOTALLY TRAINING YOURSELF HALF DEAD, SO YOU COULD WIN, NOT TAKE A POINTLESS NAP!" Ino yelled and pulled out some senbons. "IF CAN'T MOTIVATE YOURSELF, THEN I TAKE IT UPON MYSELF TO TRAIN YOU!" Shikamaru sweat dropped hearing that. This was going to be a troublesome month.

* * *

**Hidden Leaf Village.**

Running through the rooftops, feeling the wind in his hair, Naruto tried to calm himself down after that talk with his sensei earlier. But it wasn't helping. He wanted to believe what Kakashi said was true, the part about lying to the elders, but he couldn't accept it. As far as he could tell, the jonin was lying about lying. He stopped at the roof's edge, thinking about the finals. Since Kakashi wouldn't train him, who would? He needed to get stronger for his fight with Neji. As he was thinking about it, he felt someone land next to him.

"Greetings, you delinquent." Ebisu said.

"What the…?" Naruto was taken by surprise. When he took a closer look, he remembered him. "You…! You're that closet pervert!"

That earned him a strike to the head. "I am NOT a pervert, you brat! You just surprised me with that parody of a jutsu."

"Oh yeah? Then why do I get to see you wanting a payback after so long?"

As Naruto asked that, Ebisu just scoffed and folded his arms. "I have no interest in you whatsoever. I only came here, because Kakashi asked me to supervise your training for the finals." He said. But that was just half true. He also wanted to get back at the blond for that humiliation.

"I ain't trusting a guy who easily fell for my Sexy Jutsu." Naruto replied, walking away. Ebisu got mad.

"Listen, you little monster! I don't care about your opinion on this! Kakashi entrusted your training to me and I'll see to it that you get trained properly even if it's the last thing I'll do!"

Naruto had a feeling he's going to regret advancing to the finals soon enough.

* * *

How right he was. Ebisu's training, or rather torture for starters, was a 'water walking exercise'. This exercise was very similar to 'tree walking', but the chakra had to be adjustable to the waters surface. This wasn't easy, since Naruto's chakra control was pretty bad as it was. To make matters worse, they were training at the hot springs. So one can imagine the torture of falling into near-boiling water. Yes, this was Ebisu's revenge.

But Naruto quickly seemed to be getting a hang of it. While watching the blond, his determination and mental resistance, superior to his physical, Ebisu recalled how Konohamaru spoke of no shortcuts. It amused him. Because the Honorable Grandson used to cause so much trouble by assaulting Lord Third, talking about becoming hokage fast. After his encounter with the blond, the young Sarutobi became more disciplined, working hard and no longer assaulting the aged village leader. Ebisu used to always few the fox-container as nothing more than the demon itself. But now, he was wondering just how wrong he was. This boy wasn't showing any signs of giving up, despise the injury.

His train of thoughts stopped when he heard a giggle. When he turned around, he noticed a white haired man, peeking into the women's side of the baths.

"You there!" the jonin called out, dashing towards the man. "How dare you do something so provoking? I, Ebisu, the instructor the Lord Third Hokage's Honorable Grandson, Sarutobi Konohamaru, will not allow this crime to go unpunished!"

The man turned to face the jonin and, in irritation, made a hand seal. "Oh, please…" he said, as some smoke covered him. When it lifted, he was sitting on a horse-size, red toad.

"What the…? You're…!" Ebisu never finished, as the toad's tongue hit him in the kisser, sending him flying and bouncing around, until he finally ended up in a trash can right next to the spring where he was training Naruto.

The blond couldn't believe this guy was training him. He was so pathetic. Then he turned his gaze onto the toad summoner. He was a tall man in his late 40s or early 50s, with very long white, spiky hair tied in a long ponytail, had red lines running down from his eyes and a horned forehead protector with a kanji for oil on it. The man was wearing a green short shirt kimono and matching pants; under which he wore mesh armor that showed out of the sleeves and legs of his outfit. His outfit was completed with hand guards, a simple black belt, traditional Japanese geta, a red cloak with two simple yellow circles and a huge scroll on his back.

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto asked.

End

* * *

**A/N. And yet another none-original, boring yet necessary chapter. Oh well, hope you can stand it for the better one to come. See ya.**


	24. Chapter 23 Jiraiya the sage or is he?

**Chapter 23**

**Jiraiya the Sage… or is he?**

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto asked the white haired man. The said man jumped on top of the toad, and begun his introduction, while making strange poses.

"I'm glad you asked. I am the gallant sage of Mount Myoboku. The great toad hermit and world-wide known ladies man. I am one of the Legendary Three. The name is… Jiraiya."

An awkward silence fell, broken by the wind.

"Lame." Naruto commented, making the white-haired man fall on his head. "And what the hell did you do to this guy?"

"Well, I just punished him for interrupting my research." Jiraiya answered. As he saw the blonde's confused face, he reached for something in his shirt. "You see, I'm a novelist, kid. I write world-famed novels, like this one." He pulled out an orange book. "Just now, I was collecting information for my next…"

'_What is that? I'm getting some serious déjà vu vibes._' The blond was thinking. He focused more on the book, and for some reason, an image of his sensei appeared holding it. Now he recognized the book. "WTF? SO YOU WROTE THAT THING!"

"Ah, so you heard of it." Jiraiya had a big smile on his face. "I knew that one day I'll become famous as a writer. NOW I CAN DIE HAPPY!" tears were streaming from his eyes in joy.

"You… How dare you write this kinda thing? People like you should be eaten. Especially since your 'research' is absolutely no different from peeking at the women's baths!" Naruto yelled out the accusations. Only a second passed, before the two could hear the screams of the girls in the baths, making Jiraiya cry.

"! My research material has been ruined. LADIES, PLEASE COMEBACK TO JIRAIYA!" the man cried. He just lost his 'research material because of this loud mouth kid. Plus, he insulted his book. How dare he do that? "You filthy little brat. You ruined everything."

"So what? You ruined my training!"

"Training? You mean that 'water walking' exercise you were just doing?"

"Yeah. You knocked out my tutor. So how about taking the responsibility?"

"Sorry kid, I'm not wasting my time for you." Jiraiya said as he started walking away.

"Are you kidding me? If you're a sage, it's only natural you do that. Show some interest."

"I AM NOT INTERESTED IN KIDS OR MEN, YOU PUNK!" the man yelled. There was another silence, before the blond appeared disgusted.

"Eww! Well, fortunately, I'm into women, you homo-pedophile."

Jiraiya got red after hearing that. What did that kid just accuse him of?

"IDIOT! DON'T MOCK ME!" the white-haired hermit was foaming. "Now leave me alone. I must go and continue on my research!" He turned away and wanted to go, but the blond appeared before him in a blur, surprising the hermit. '_What the… he's this fast?_'

"Oh no you don't, you pervy sage. You ruined my training and now you're going to fix this somehow!" Naruto pointed at him, screeching like mad. Jiraiya hardened his glare on the knucklehead.

"Like I said, forget it. It's just a waste of my time. You… AAAAAAAaaaaargh!" Before he could finish, he was pressed to the ground with his own summon, which, apparently, the blond dropped on him.

"Someone already said the same thing today and believe me I'm in an extremely BAD mood right now." The blond dusted his hands and started to walk away, leaving the hermit at the mercy of the toad's weight.

It's been half an hour already, and the blond still couldn't do this exercise right. He was now training on the river side, so he wouldn't get burned, as well as to get away from the pervert. Little did he know that the hermit was looking for him. There was no way he would let this kid get away with crushing him with his toad. But as he recalled it, he also wondered about the blonde's strength. No human would be able to lift a toad that weights as much as a well-fed cow. As soon as he found him, Jiraiya jumped at him.

"I finally found you, you punk! Now you'll pay for what you did! I just hate you so much that I'll pommel you to the ground!"

Naruto saw the perv coming and made a hand seal to stop him. There was a puff of smoke, and then a naked girl.

"You wouldn't hit a girl, would you?" Naruto transformed asked. Sure enough, the hermit stopped in his tracks, eyeing the 'girl' before him. Then he began to shake uncontrollably. '_Maybe I overdid it. This guy seems to have a heart attack._' Before the he knew it, the white-haired man was on fire. And after a minute…

"I LIKE YOU, KID!" Jiraiya was smiling like insane, giving the blond thumbs up. Then he pulled out some signs from behind his back. "JIRAIYA APPROVES!"

Mentally, the blond fell. '_This guy is a complete idiot!_' he thought.

"But how…? How did you…? No, wait… What kind of a jutsu is that?"

"Well, it's my handiwork. The Sexy Jutsu." 'she' answered. Jiraiya started to drool.

"Oh yeah. You're a genius kid. This is the one jutsu all should really learn before the academy. That's right. You're…"

'_This guy is a serious nut case._' Naruto thought. '_I'm beginning to believe all adults are vulnerable to this jutsu._' "So, will you now supervise my training?" He asked, with stars in his eyes.

"Sure I will. But under one condition."

"Condition?" Naruto was a little surprised. He didn't know exactly what to expect… That is, until he saw a few drops of blood coming from the now giggling hermit's nose.

"You must ALWAYS be in that form whenever you're around me." The perverted man said. Naruto immediately broke his jutsu, fuming in rage. This man was…

"I knew it!" the kid shouted, pointing at the sage. "You're nothing bad a dirty old pervert! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"I am not a dirty old pervert!" Jiraiya shouted back.

"Oh yeah? Then what are you?"

Jiraiya started to laugh and proudly responded "I'm the ULTIMATE PERVERT!" Naruto developed a tick mark on his head. Then, throughout the forest, the sound of pain echoed, accompanied by a scream.

"You're even more delusional than my entire team!" he screeched, ready to hit him with a tree the moment he lands.

After a moment of cooling down, Jiraiya told Naruto to take off his shirt. The blond was skeptical, but complied.

"Alright now, mold some chakra." The hermit advised.

"Huh? What for?" the blond asked.

"Trust me. It's to check on something with your chakra flow." Jiraiya explained.

"Well why didn't just say so?" Naruto made a 'ram' seal and focused. Jiraiya focused his gaze on the little blond and after a few seconds there was a black spiral with several markings around it. Jiraiya took a closer look at the seal. It's design was the most complex thing he saw so far in his life. It wasn't just a seal to keep the demon inside the boy. It was designed to isolate it from the boy's mind and spirit, as well as to leak some chakra and filter it before mixing with the boy's own. Jiraiya was impressed at the genius of the Fourth Hokage's. But then he noticed five more markings around the seal, which were suppressing the Nine-tails' chakra, thus disturbing Naruto's chakra.

Jiraiya took his hand behind his back and had his fingers in blue fire. "Alright, now raise your hands. I'm going to use a special relaxation method to help you." He cheerfully told the blond. As the blond did as he was told, the hermit delivered it. "Five Elemental Unseal!" he pressed his fingers against the seals to undo them, and send the blond backwards. The blond didn't loose his balance, which caught the old man's attention, but he did wince in pain. After a few more seconds, Naruto gave a hard glare to the hermit.

"What the hell was that?" the blond asked, ready to assault the man.

"This was to relax you a bit." Jiraiya simply answered. Then he pointed towards the water. "Now try the exercise again. It should go much easier now." Naruto growled under his breath and murmured something under his breath, but did as told. He molded some chakra, focused it in his feet and, to his surprise, he walked on the water's surface like on solid ground. He couldn't believe it. He finally caught it right. The blond was so happy about it that he lost it and fell into the water.

"Well that was something." Jiraiya said, while the blond was getting out of the water. "You did well, kid. But that alone won't be enough to make you a fine ninja." Naruto gave him a look of annoyance. "Look… I don't know if you're aware or not, so I must tell you something. Did you ever feel something strange about your chakra?"

Naruto blinked a few times before he actually thought about it. This was the first time someone actually made him think about it. "Well… There was this one time on our mission in Wave Country. During a fight I felt so mad when I thought my teammate was killed… I remember everything, but it's a bit foggy. But what I can't forget is this strange feeling."

"A strange feeling?"

"How should I put this…? While chakra feels like a breeze… This felt like… extreme hot flames." Naruto finished. He thought whether or not to tell Jiraiya about what he supposedly did during Izo's betrayal, but he really didn't remember anything after that kick. So he putted that aside.

"Then I can tell you this, just so you are aware." Jiraiya started to explain, having a serious look on his face. "You posses two types of chakra. One is your own, naturally, while the other one is, as you said, drawn out depending on your mindset. In other words, that 'flame' chakra was drawn out back then subconsciously. You have to learn to drawn upon it consciously and control it or one day you may become a threat to your friends. Got it?" Naruto nodded in response. The blond didn't actually have any trouble about what he meant, as the image of that mysterious silhouette flashed before his eyes, along with the thought about the Fox. "And today's your lucky day! I happen to know a very special exercise to help you control it!"

"Really?" Naruto had stars in his eyes.

"Indeed!" the hermit answered, also enthusiastically. Then… "We'll start tomorrow. I gotta go on my research now."

Naruto fell hearing that. "Damn you, you pervy sage!"

* * *

**Later. Naruto's apartment**

Naruto shut the door behind him with enough restrain to not break them. He was still mad. But now it wasn't just Kakashi, but also some perverted toad hermit, who calls peeping on women's bathing 'research'. Plus, the blond was left with doing nothing but more 'water walking'. That really got on his nerves. On the other hand, that did provide some improvement to his chakra control. It helped him improve so much… he felt extremely hungry. He ran over to the closet, where he clearly remembered hiding a '50 % off-price' ticket to 'Ichiraku's'. When he opened it and started searching for it, something caught his attention. He heard something hit the floor. He looked down to find the scroll. As he took a closer look at it, he remembered. That's the scroll he found in the old temple in Wave. After their return to the Hidden Leaf Village he completely forgot about it. So he picked it back up and studied the writings again.

"'Only by the liquid of all life, will all secrets be revealed'? What's that supposed to be?" the blond roared in annoyance. What was the liquid of all life supposed to be? The blond started to try and open that wretched piece of paper on his own. But he failed. He tried everything: his strength, clones, kunais, shurikens, hammer, electrocution, drawning and even Sexy Jutsu. He wondered, whether he should talk about this to the old man hokage or not, when the pervy sage's face flashed before his eyes. That's it. That guy might know something. But wait… could he be trusted with this scroll? After all, the knuckleheaded blond didn't even tell Kakashi about it. Still, he would need some help in solving that riddle. So he put it on the table and wondered how deal with it.

Then his stomach growled. That forced the blond to return to the original task of his.

* * *

**The next day. By the river.**

Naruto came to the spot which Jiraiya told him about. He was very excited to learn this new jutsu the perv told him about. And he found him quite easily.

"So I see you came, kid." Jiraiya greeted the blond.

"The name's Naruto, you Pervy Sage." Naruto growled back.

"Don't call me that! Anyway… like I promised yesterday, today I'll teach you a fine jutsu. But first we need you low on chakra."

"You want me exhausted? Why?"

Jiraiya wondered for a sec. he needed to make a good reason for this knucklehead to use up his chakra. He wanted him, after all, to learn to draw upon the Nine-tails' power. "Well, you see… this way it'll be a better way to train you, as this jutsu requires you to start with as little chakra as possible in the start."

Naruto just narrowed his eyebrows. "What kind of explanation is that?"

Jiraiya became serious. This kid was more aware then he thought. "Fine. I guess I don't have a choice but to tell you. I want you to also learn how to control the other chakra. So I need you to use up your chakra so you could draw upon the other one as an emergency." Jiraiya put it that way.

But the blond didn't answer anything. He was somewhat scared. Last time he felt that other chakra, he almost killed someone. Plus, when he passed out during his fight with Kiba, he had a fight with that hostile-within-psyche. He didn't know if that was a good idea. But this guy wanted to teach him controlling it. So maybe, just maybe, he knew what he's doing.

"Alright." Naruto said. Then added "But I'd better not end up regretting it, Pervy Sage."

Jiraiya chuckled under his breath. "Don't worry. You won't. In fact, it'll be like a power boost for you." He reached for the scroll on his back and threw it to the blond. "Now then, on to business. The jutsu I'm about to teach you is Summoning Jutsu. It allows you summon a creature to the field of battle to aid you. Depending on the amount of chakra you use for this jutsu, you may summon a different size or number. Of course the kind of the creature depends on the contract you sign. You may summon hawks, slugs, snakes, weasels, dogs, cats etc. In my case, and yours in time, are toads. You have to sign it with your blood."

Naruto opened the scroll, cut his finger and signed his name in it, finishing with a handprint.

"Good. Now, before we practice it, I want you to use up your chakra." Jiraiya said. Naruto frowned but complied. He started making shadow clones and had them spar with each other. Jiraiya laughed lightly, seeing what the kid was doing. After several minutes, the fox container was really low on chakra. He was actually barely standing.

"Good, now you may proceed. The hand signs for this jutsu are 'boar', 'dog', 'tiger', 'monkey', 'ram'. Then you slam your hand in the ground. Got it?"

Naruto nodded and did as instructed. He ran through the hand seals and slammed his hand in the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!"

There was a puff of smoke. Jiraiya and Naruto took a closer look and when the smoke fell… there was a tadpole. The blonde's head dropped in disappointment. Jiraiya on the other hand had something on his mind.

'_So he really can't use that chakra consciously. What's more, judging by what he said he said about the bridge incident, the Third was right. The kid can only draw upon it when in life-threatening situation. This might be more difficult than I originally thought._' The toad hermit thought. "You really suck, you know?"

"Well excuse me, Pervy Idiot!" Naruto yelled, "I've got only so little chakra left so it can't be helped, can it?"

"Idiot! Then why don't you call that other chakra?"

"And how do I do that?"

That question made Jiraiya speechless. The kid was right. How was he supposed to call the Fox's chakra by his will? "Um… I don't know?"

"Don't 'I don't know?' me here!"

* * *

It's been two weeks since the prelims. Meaning halfway till the finals. And the finalists were progressing well.

Neji stood still in the middle of the crater, surrounded by multiple weapons. His teammate, Ten Ten, started to congratulate him, as if he already won the fights. But Neji had no intention of stopping with his training. He looked towards the lone rock and raised his left hand towards the sky. While concentrating and imagining his blond opponent, he was recalling the basics of this jutsu. He had mastered one strong jutsu. And he was about to master the other. He would not go easy on this exam.

Anko and Ryu, on the other hand seemed to finally have some relax time. Their sensei was pushing them so hard the question was if he's trying to kill them. Their clothes were mostly ragged, their faces covered in dirt and their equipment lost. But at least they would be ready for their opponents. Ryu quickly stood up and ran home. Anko wondered what was wrong, but quickly realized, it was that time. Ryu would enter the arena not as a boy but a man. She chuckled while thinking about the Niigetsu clan's rite of passage. That brought her thinking about her cousin, who swore to tell her about her family, should she do well in the finals. The purple-haired girl was so anxious to finally learn who her parents were and what happened to them.

Hinata finally got out of the hospital. She was still in pain and could barely move, but the doctor stated she was in good enough shape to leave. However, she wouldn't train for some time yet. While she was happy at first, she got worried when she heard who Naruto was going to fight. She feared for him. She wanted to find him and warn him, but he was nowhere to find.

Naruto, on the other hand, still couldn't perform the jutsu. He was still summoning tadpoles instead of toads. That annoyed both him and the hermit. Finally, the white-haired man couldn't take it.

"Kid. Come with me." He said.

After a few minutes of walking, they stopped. Naruto wondered what the hermit was planning. Before he had the chance to ask, the hermit faced him. "Forgive me." He said and hit Naruto in the stomach, gently enough so he wouldn't loose his consciousness, yet hard enough to send him flying. Naruto tried to stop, only to find that he was already falling into the chasm below. He started screaming in panic.

'_I'm sorry, Naruto, but this might be the only way to help you draw It's chakra out when you need it. That chasm is too slippery to use your chakra control to stick to its walls, to hard to stab a kunai to it and not even a stone to grab. The only way for you to survive is to use this chakra._' Jiraiya thought, while looking at the blond falling. Naruto on the other hand just kept panicking. What should he do? How should he call that power?

* * *

He blinked. But after opening his eyes the blond found himself in water. He quickly came out of it and noticed he wasn't in a cave. This was the world within his psyche again. He could see he was still falling, judging by the picture of the chasm's walls going upwards in slow motion. What caught his interest was this water he was in. he looked around to find what looked like a sewer entrance. So he went in. he didn't know why. He didn't want to, fearing it's some kind of trap, but he felt it was the only thing to do.

As he walked deeper, he found multiple turns around, which were cut of by some spiky chains. He wanted to take one of them, but as soon as he touched the chain, it burned him. He was left with no choice but to stay on track, until he so it. Before him was a large gate with bars, locked with nothing more than a small tag. The tag had writing on it, which said 'seal'. Naruto walked a little closer, to see what was on the other side of the gate, but he couldn't see anything. He wanted to enter, when he heard a chuckle. A malicious chuckle of someone thirsty for blood.

When the blond finally found the source of it, he truly got scared. There was no way he would forget these eyes. The eyes with a red sclera.

"Hello, idiot." The shadow said. "Didn't expect to see you this soon."

"You… I hoped not to ever see you again." Naruto growled, making the hostile laugh.

"You're really stupid. There's no way we wouldn't have met again. We're destined to have this dance till the end."

"What are you talking about? WHO ARE YOU?" Naruto shouted in anger. He could tell the shade smiled at that. And the guy entered the light, revealing he was no longer a blur. But his appearance still shocked the blond. He couldn't believe what he saw. Aside for the eyes, that guy had a more psychopathic appearance along with claws for nails. But aside from that, that guy…

"I'm you, idiot."

**To be continued…**

* * *

**A.N. / **Soon enough, the second part of Naruto's training. But for now, another inner encounter.


	25. Chapter 24 The Insight

**Chapter 24**

**The insight**

There was a long silence. Naruto didn't really know what to think of this. Here, before his eyes, some kind of look-alike stated to be him. But that can't be, can it? It wasn't just the clothing but also body build, height, body language, speech pattern. This guy could actually be him.

"What the hell do you mean you're me? If you're me, than who am I?" Naruto roared in both rage and confusion. He believed this to be some kind of a stupid game. But the doppelganger just chuckled again.

"As much as I would love this mind game, I fear I'll just have to get straight." The psychopathic Naruto said. "I am the opposite of your very being." Seeing as the 'light' blond stayed silent, the 'dark' blond snapped and the water at their feet began to show the past. "When that Serpent Freak gave you that mark, it started to mess with your chakra, trying to corrupt it. But since you're, as it appears, naturally immune to chakra corruption, it was on its way to killing you. The Fox used what power it could channel to remove the mark but in the process an unexpected happened. While removing that mark, its power fused with the darkness within you and gave it life of its own. Namely… ME!"

Naruto showed all signs of understanding. The Dark Naruto had no doubt about that. The positive one just didn't want to believe it. But if that was the case…

"Wha-What are you plotting?" Naruto asked.

"What am I plotting?" Dark Naruto mockingly asked. "Hehe. Oh, you know, the natural. How to get in control of this body."

Naruto seemingly collected himself and glared at the doppelganger. "I'm afraid I can't let you have that."

"And you think you can stop me?"

"I don't think so. I CAN do this!" Naruto dashed towards his negative. Seeing this, the Dark persona of the blond maniacally laughed and also dashed. The two collided with their fists in each others' faces. Both were thrown send distance away. Upon their landing, they both used the Shadow Clone Jutsu and made the exact number of three clones each. All eight Narutos engaged in combat, even calling the Stuning Light Whip. But in the end only two were left. They both jumped at each other and started to deliver a barrage of punches, but each punch was blocked by the others . "Thunder God Drum!" both Narutos shouted as they delivered the last punch. When their fists hit each other, there was a shockwave so strong, it cast a mass of water away. The two took some distance from each other. Naruto just couldn't believe it. This guy was just as strong as he was. This fight could go on forever while in reality the blond was still falling towards his death. He used the pause to think for a moment. If this guy was him, then how was he to defeat himself? Naruto thought about his weak spots. But then again, wouldn't Dark Naruto be thinking the same? No, he couldn't be thinking about that. This wasn't the moment.

Dark Naruto saw the opening and attacked. Naruto noticed it just in time to jump away, as he darker self dashed towards him. Both blonds started trading blows and kicks, with neither getting anywhere. Dark Naruto growled in annoyance that they were equal. In this frustration, he threw a smoke bomb at his prey, hoping to finish this. As the smoke enveloped the 'light' kid, the evil one made three clones and had them surround the enemy. Then, perfectly synchronized, all four psychopaths threw their shurikens at the cloud. Dark Naruto was confident he would finish this struggle now, so he was surprised when he found the shurikens incoming and hitting him. They didn't hit the vitals, but did hit his shoulder. As his clones dispersed, the real Naruto jumped out of the water, roaring and raising both his hands high in the air, ready to deliver the final blow. His hands were finally going down with great force. The blond would win this. He would put this psychopathic shadow into the darkest part of his psyche to disappear. Or so he hoped. For the evil twin would not go down so easily. He was defeated once already. He would not have it happen again. So he jumped towards his opponent, ramming him down into the water. The two came out of it, hitting each other in their faces and send each other flying. Upon landing, the good blond tried to calm himself down. He knew he was wasting his time here, while in the real world he could hit the bottom of the chasm any second now. So what would he do? His train of thoughts broke when he noticed the evil blond incoming. So he dashed forward, hoping to land a good hit this time.

As the two blonds were about to hit one another, something made them stop. A loud roar, followed by a strong shockwave, which didn't blow them away, but still made them stop and struggle to stand their ground. Once things calmed down, the two turned towards the cage, the source of this roar. Naruto looked a little deeper, wondering what was going on. Seconds past, and he finally saw two, flaring, slit eyes and a demonic smile revealing all fangs. The blond was both at awe as well as terror. He finally met the source of his suffering. Right here, before him stood the very demon, which almost 13 years ago destroyed his home village making the kid pay for it.

Naruto finally stood face-to-face with the Nine-Tailed Fox.

Its presence alone was evil. Being near this creature made the blond feel angry and hateful. The blond knew it wasn't him. The presence of the demon seemed to enhance the kid's negative emotions. The demon looked down to face the two blonds and chuckled. It was amusing to see its prison and his dark reflection.

"**Come closer, you two.**" The Fox demanded. "**I wish to take a closer look at you.**" Both obeyed and walked closer. Carefully though considering the demon's sinister smile. When they came close enough, five claws suddenly appeared coming out, launched towards them. Naruto jumped back, while his polar opposite just stood still. As it appears, the claws couldn't reach him. Dark Naruto just smiled seeing the demonic claws just an inch away from his face.

"Oh, what's the matter, Foxy?" he asked, "Baby can't reach?"

"**Damn you!**" the Fox cursed. "**If it wasn't for this seal…! That accursed Forth made a good job making seal so I would do anything to you.**" The demon seemed to calm down, as its head seemed to be now lying on the floor. It eyed the two people on the other side of its cage, clearly wondering about something. "**So not only am I stuck in this puny human body, but I am also stuck in this puny human body with two personas. Interesting. I never thought that my attempt to remove that mark would end up like this."**

"It couldn't be helped, could it?" Dark Naruto asked mockingly, "But isn't this better? When I get rid of this weak idiot persona, I'll claim this body and the two of us will get our vengeance on this pathetic village." The Fox glared at the evil kid, seeing his true intentions. He could tell he was just going to use its power for personal goal, not letting it ever free. Its train of thoughts stopped when the other blond shouted.

"Hey, you idiotic fur ball! In case you don't know, we are still falling, so how about you do something about it first?"

"Exactly why it'll give the power to me."

"As far as I recall, this is MY body, so the Nine Tails owns me the rent for all these years."

"And it'll pay me."

Naruto didn't stand it. He couldn't. He knew he would hit the bottom at this rate. So he jumped at his dark twin, and vice versa, and the two punched each other again. As they struggled, they could hear the demon chuckling.

"**So you both intend to take my power and use it?**" it asked. "**How amusing. So tell you what: the one to amuse me the most will be given a taste of it, while the other gets nothing.**"

The two blonds looked at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. This was the one chance. Their muscles stiffen, ready to attack, run, jump or duck. Their breathing was hard. They didn't know what to expect from the other, though they wouldn't come up with anything original. Finally they jumped away from each other, throwing their kunais. Their weapons hit each other, while their owners dashed towards the cage. As they were racing, the two closed their distance from each other and were delivering blows. But no matter what they tried, the attack was blocked or parried.

Finally Dark Naruto managed to land a solid punch to the jaw when his hated enemy came too close. This was a wonderful opportunity. He enjoyed the sight of the good twin hitting the water a far off. He was now almost by the cage, ready to take the demon's power. The Fox seemed ready to keep his word, as the red smoke was coming from the cage, as if the water itself was burning. Dark Naruto's smile grew wider, as he was ready to touch it.

Then he heard a whistle. When he turned, Naruto was standing and waving cheerfully. The evil one stopped, having a bad feeling about this. Then he heard a strange sound from nearby, as the good one dashed towards him. The psychopath wasn't going to waste anymore time and ran, when…

*BOOM*

The explosion threw him back, away from the demon's power. What happened? When Dark Naruto looked down, he saw the lower torso and legs missing. The goody-two-shoes blond placed an explosive tag on him just before he hit him. How could he get outsmarted like this? Before the dark one fell into the water, his body started to glow in the similar fashion as the curse seal, slowly regenerating his body. Then he noticed the cheerful prankster next to him, delivering a strong blow to his head, smashing him to the floor. But Naruto didn't stop there, despite Dark Naruto being unconscious. He grabbed him and threw him into the distance, watching as his body continued to regenerate. Then he fell to his knees. He was exhausted. Then he turned to see the Fox smiling at him.

"What are you looking at?" Naruto asked. "We're still falling. And if you don't want me to suffer any damage beyond repair, I suggest you lent me some of your power now."

The Fox laughed. Its laughter sounded like a boom, exposing all its fangs and the inside of its mouth, as if it was burning. "**You have guts, kid. You expect to take me with you to the afterlife should you die? Hmm. Fine.**" The red flames appeared again, and this time they surrounded the blond, who seemed ready to run away. "**Here's a small portion of my power. But beware. The other you want let you off the hook that easily now.**" Naruto gave the beast a look of confusion for a second, before sensing something from behind. When he looked, he saw the other one reappearing and running towards him.

"You dare to defy me again!" Dark Naruto roared. Then the two noticed the red chakra enveloping Naruto, slowly making him disappear. Dark Naruto's eyes grew in size at the sight before him, remembering that if one disappears from this place, the other also does. It was simply how the seal affected the psyche. So he jumped towards him, hoping to tag along. "No! Take me with you! TAKE ME!" he roared, as the good blond finally disappeared.

* * *

Naruto finally was back in the real world, where he continued to fall. Only this time he could feel quite a power boost. So, without wasting any time, he bit his thumb and made five hand seals necessary for the Summoning Jutsu and 'pressed' his right hand down. "Summoning Jutsu!" he called, and he saw some markings form around his hand. Then there was a loud boom followed by the big puff of smoke. The knuckleheaded genin got confused for a moment, before he hit something. He wasn't sure what, but it didn't feel like rock. Once the smoke fell, Naruto found himself on a huge, reddish toad in a blue happi vest. Naruto took a better look at it. It was a real toad as he failed to find a tail. He was so proud of himself, yet before he could cheer…

"WHAT THE F**K IS GOING ON HERE?" a roar came. Naruto had no doubt it was the toad that asked the question. But he was somewhat surprised to hear the toad talk. Before he could ask a question, he felt himself pressed against the large summon. No wonder since it jumped upwards, wanting to get out of this chasm.

After it jumped out, Naruto pulled himself together and stood up. "What the hell?" he asked.

"I should be the one asking that, kid." The toad replied. "Who are you?"

"Me? I'm Uzumaki Naruto. And I was just learning the Summoning Jutsu, when the Pervy Jerk pushed me into this abyss."

"So you're tellin' me that you summoned me here." Naruto just nodded. After a few seconds of silence the summon laughed maniacally. "Good one, pipsqueak. That's a good one. But there's no way a little thing like you could possibly summon me, Chief Toad, the chief of all toads."

"Well clearly I did." The blond talked back. The toad seemed to be in deep thought.

"Well, I can not deny the blood. Of all things that live, the blood can tell who summoned me." Chief Toad replied. Naruto seemed to get something.

"Wait. What does blood have to do with anything?"

"Well, you see… All living things bleed. It is the common thing for all of us. For us, summons, it is also the link between our kingdom and this world. By signing the summoning contract of the toads with your blood, you created yourself a link to call us, the toads, into your world through this jutsu." The boss of toads leaned down, making it easier for the genin to get off. "I am one of the few great enough to tell that your blood was indeed the one to call me. But don't do that ever again!" The giant amphibian roared the last part and in the big explosion of smoke disappeared. Naruto just stood there for a while, thinking about something. Then it hit him.

"So that must be the answer to that riddle." He cried and hurried to his apartment. Unknown to him, three different people were observing him. And while one left in the other direction, the other two decided to follow him.

* * *

**Naruto's apartment.**

Naruto shut the door behind him as soon as he entered the apartment. It was because he wanted to deal with this fast, of course. But he was also furious with the certain hermit, who was nowhere to be found and he really wanted to explain things, like not throwing people off the cliff. Still, maybe it was for the best he wasn't anywhere near.

The blond walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out the mysterious scroll. Now he knew the answer to the riddle so he could open it. So the blond bit his thumb and let a few drops of blood drip onto the scroll. After a few seconds of waiting, it seemed to glow. The blond took a stance, ready to escape if necessary. After the light died, it unrolled itself. Well, to be honest, the blond expected anything but that. But hey, who was he to complain about no theatricals. The scroll was at least now open, right?

Naruto took a look at the scroll. What he found got him excited. This was some jutsu here. And since he had 2 more weeks before the finals… He wasted no time. He packed himself for the remaining time and launched out of his living place, dashing towards the training grounds, hoping to find a good place.

But as he was taking a shortcut through the alleys, he sensed something. He took a look around, but didn't see anything. When he made a step forward, his danger sense kicked in and the blond jumped onto the wall, just in time to evade a punch. Naruto looked down ready to attack, when he realized it was Sakura, who seemed to be in a bad mood.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked, "Why are sneaking up on me and trying to nit me?"

"Because you disappeared for two weeks and you were about to do that again. Plus, I can't find Sasuke, so I just felt like." She explained. She was really on the edge for not seeing her teammates she didn't even realize what she was doing. Well, that's at least what she told herself.

"Well don't look at me. I haven't seen him either. From what I overheard from sensei's conversation, he's training the jerk outside the village." He replied. Sakura was now ready to cry.

"No way."

"Way. Anyway, I'm off for some more training." The blond jumped off the wall, ready to move, when he felt Sakura grab his arm. Naruto was surprised and expected a punch- which never came. He looked at his teammate with the look of confusion. She gave him a weak smile.

"Actually, Naruto, I was going to see Lee in the hospital. Wanna come?" she asked. Naruto's eyes widened. Since when was Sakura ever this friendly.

* * *

**Leaf hospital**

"He's falls a sleep quite easily, so don't be too loud." Sakura said while the two were going down the hall. To be blunt, the blond hated this place. The hospital. From his perspective, it was more of the torture facility then a place to attend to sick people. The doctor's would always make him stay in his bed, eating some goo-for-food, and having some weird stuff pumped into his veins. It was more painful than any injury he landed with.

"No sweat." The blond said, grinning like mad, "the guy's got enough of these 'Flames of Yin' or whatever to be classified as even more hyperactive than me"

Sakura quietly giggled. "Well, when you put it that way, he does seem so…" the two finally approached the door to Lee's room. Upon its opening, the two felt something wrong. They dash in as quickly as possible, ready for combat. What they found was something they did not want to see again.

In the room, Lee was sleeping soundly. You could tell by his peaceful expression that he had no problem sleeping. This was good, considering the kind of damage he took in the prelims while fighting the Sand genin. His left arm and leg were badly shredded by the sand, making the recovery near impossible. But now he was ignorant to the sand floating over his body, ready to finish him off now, when there was no one to interrupt Gaara's killing. The red head would not stand for his prey to live. He was about to spill the blood.

But he was interrupted.

He saw his sand creating a wall. Just in time to stop a certain blond from ramming him. He gave him a cold look, promising death. It somewhat amused him that Naruto didn't seem affected by his stare, unlike the pink hair kunoichi.

"What do you think you're doing?" Naruto asked in a roar. "Isn't it enough that you injured him like this?"

Gaara just raised head, remaining calm. "No. This isn't good enough. He must die." With that declaration, the two Leaf genins stepped back, their hearts filled with shock.

"But… Why?" Sakura asked fearfully. "You won the fight. Are you… holding a grudge against him or something?"

"No. I just want to kill him." The red-headed genin answered. Within his words, Naruto and Sakura heard no hesitation. No remorse. That boy seemed to be used to killing like breathing.

"THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" the question came from Naruto.

"Why?" Sakura asked, trying to stay calm. "Was your childhood really that bad?"

"If you get in my way, I'll kill you." Garra threatened. The blond seemed ready to attack, but his teammate stopped him by getting between him and the psychopath.

"Naruto, don't!" she called. "You saw what that guy did to Lee. You wanna die? This guy is like a beast."

Naruto seemed affected by her words as he suddenly became petrified. But after a few seconds, that turn into a weak smile. The blond raised his head, showing his expression of anger. To be honest, Sakura never saw THIS face from the blond before.

"If he's a beast, then I'm a monster." Naruto said, clearly not happy with the description. "There is no way I'm going to lose to him." A silence fell. Sakura knew about Naruto's complex. At least she thought it was. A complex of seeing himself as something less then human, but for him to actually call himself a monster… She looked down. She didn't want it to sound like this. Then their attention returned to the red head, who started talking.

"A monster, eh? Then you and I are the same. I was born into this world while killing the one whom I would call mother and having my father place the incarnation of sand into my body. I am a demon soul in the human vessel. A monster." The Leaf genin's eyes grew in size after hearing this, as the Sand genin continued. "It was Shukaku, the Desert Horror, that was sealed within me. The ultimate nightmare of the deserts in our nation."

"A beast was sealed into you on the day of your birth?" Sakura asked furiously. "What kind of sick-minded person would do such a thing? What parent would show love this way?" She didn't now, but her words pain the blond behind him. After all, he suffered that fate of having something sealed within him.

"Love?" Gaara asked. "Don't make me laugh, little girl. You judge me through your ignorance to my life. You know what family bonds mean to me? It's just a bunch of flesh connected with murderous intent and hatred." By the sound of that, Sakura took a step back, believing he would kill her now, while Naruto just widened his eyes. "Through my mother's death, my village has created its ultimate creation. Their idol. The son of their kazekage. He thought me the secret of ninja arts. I was being spoiled and allowed to do as I pleased. I was treated like a god. I believed it to be love. But I was wrong." He pause, as his expression slowly began to change from stoic, emotionless to a psychopathic smile. "After I turned 6, my father tried countless times to kill me ever since."

Naruto and Sakura looked at him in disbelieve. They just couldn't believe what they heard. "Wha…? But you just said… your father spoiled you. Why would he do that?" Sakura asked.

"Because I'm a strong existence that is to be feared. The fools in the village finally began to understand, that by their action of placing that spirit into me, they have created a very unstable weapon that could act against them. To my father I was a trump card, but in time, he also started to see the danger I represent with that power within me. Maybe when I was 6 I was already strong enough to be considered too dangerous. As such, as a tool, if I could not be used with proper care, I had to be destroyed. I am nothing more then a weapon. One so destructive, they could only see the spirit from the past they wish not to see ever again. Then why do I exist? What is my purpose? As I started to look for the answer, I could not find one that would even satisfy me. Yet, all living things need a reason. A purpose. Otherwise you simply exist."

'_Wha-what is this guy… talking about?_' Sakura thought. She looked at Naruto, wanting to tell him to run. But she didn't see him scared. He didn't seem so. Rather, as if he could understand him. Unknown to her, he truly could.

"Then, I came to a conclusion." Gaara continued. "My purpose is to kill every human beside myself. I felt relief. As the assassins continued to try, I only killed them. It showed me the need to fight for myself. Through that, people acknowledge me. As long as there are people in this world to kill my existence will not fate away."

Naruto eyed the red head carefully. He couldn't believe this. There was someone just like him. The only difference was, Naruto finally found people to bond with. He made bonds. The guy in front of him didn't find any and therefore was still in the darkness of loneliness. Naruto finally trembled. And For Gaara that was just the cue.

"NOW LET ME FEEL IT!" He roared. "I SAW YOUR LITTLE TRICK EARLIER TODAY! IT'S GOING TO BE QUITE PLEASANT KILLING SOMEONE WHO CAN RIDE SOMETHING THIS BIG!" he called to Naruto. The blond seemed ready to attack, when…

"That's enough." A woman commanded. All three genins turned to see a tall woman with a bandana on her head, wearing black and red obi, matching black cargo pants and three scrolls around her waist. She had black eyes, short, brown hair, barely noticeable from under her bandana. She was bare footed, had rings on every finger on her left hand and a phoenix tattoo on her right arm. "There will be no fighting in the hospital. The finals are within two weeks. If your so excited about fighting, I, Hidodama of the Inforcers of the Hidden Leaf, can make you stay here from now on." She declared, as Guy entered the room. The red-haired genin murmured something under his nose, but calmed down. His sand returned into his gourd and left saying only this to Naruto.

"I'll definitely kill you."

Naruto gulped. That guy really scared him. The blond shook his head, trying to regain his cool and jump towards the window.

"Naruto? Where are you going?" Sakura asked.

"I can't waste my time." Naruto shouted, pulling out a scroll. "I've got training to do and too little time to spare." He finally jumped out. As he landed, he dashed towards his secret training ground.

* * *

**Leaf Village's forest, Unknown location.**

Naruto finally arrived to his favorite spot. This was the only place where no one ever came and he never told anyone about. And the place was also wonderful. It was a big clearing, with a waterfall and a small stream, surrounded by numerous, black stones. There were also a few short, dead trees, which served perfectly for posts. This was his private training ground. He quickly put down his backpack and unrolled the scroll, reading it again. He nodded a few times in understanding. This seemed pretty easy enough. He was about to try it, when he heard something in the bushes. He ran in the direction he believed to be the source of the rustle, jumped over the bush and landed in front of the figure.

"Alright! Talk! What are you… doing… here?" His voice got softer after realizing who it was hiding in the bushes. Sure enough, it was her. Hinata. She was giving the blond quite a look of surprise and fear. She didn't intend to do anything bad, but she must have done so since Naruto was angry. "Hinata? Wha- What are doing here?"

"W-well I… j-just wanted… I mean… N-Naruto, I wanted to…" Hinata wanted tell him something. She wanted to warn him about Neji. But now, when facing the fox-container, she was just lost for words.

"It's about Neji, right?" Naruto asked. He could tell by the girl's expression of surprise that he hit the jackpot. "Is he really that much stronger than what he showed on the prelims?" His question had some concern for her. She knew it. He didn't mean to make her remember that beating.

"Y-yes." She answered. "Neji is… Even within our clan he's acknowledged as the strongest Hyuga born." She raised her eyes towards the blond, who clearly seemed "B-but… I b-believe you can w-win with him." Naruto look at her with confusion now.

"You really think so?" he asked. "I may be quite strong, but I'm not really that cool."

"Y-you're wrong, N-Naruto. Whenever I see you trying y-your best, i-it makes me… believe t-that even I… am worth s-something." She assured him. "Y-you are v-very strong, Naruto. If… if anyone is weak, it's m-me." She lowered her head, not wanting the blond to see her cry.

"What are you talking about?" she heard him ask. But the question surprised her. "You're saying you're weak? It's got to be a joke, Hinata. I've seen how you move, how you fight. I'm pretty sure that if you were so shy and more open, even Sasuke would have a hard time with you."

Hinata blushed after his little speech. She didn't think Naruto thought of her that way. For the most time, she kept hearing people say that she was weak, a looser of the clan. As the consequence, it made her add the inferiority complex to her shy nature. For her to hear her crush call her strong was, well…unexpected. She gave the blond a thankful smile. This was the part she decided to take her leave. As she made a few steps…

"Hey, Hinata." Naruto called, stopping her in her tracks and turned to the blond. "Please don't tell anybody about this place, would you?"

Hinata nodded and left. And she was very happy. Meanwhile Naruto returned to the scroll. After a few seconds of reading it, He rolled it and put it into his pouch. He gathered some chakra to his hands.

* * *

**Two weeks later. By the stadium.**

The stadium stood ready for the big event. The people, the daimyos, the land premiers, and other guests were slowly entering the village and entering the stadium. And there was quite the crowd. The streets were even filled with stands, selling snacks, souvenirs and so on. The clear sky was a sign of good omen for many, while they were placing their bets.

The Hokage was sitting in his place, watching as the event was soon to start. He could already see four finalists entering the field of their battle. But he seemed troubled. The trouble was Orochimaru. Just five days ago, Hayate, the referee for the prelims, was found dead, next to the Sound-nin finalist, Dosu. The aged village leader feared the serpent-like shinobi was discovered in the village, ready to attack or looking for Sasuke. But since nothing was out of the ordinary, he putted that aside for a moment. But now, as the finals were to start, he was on guard. But he soon relaxed when he was greeted by the man who prepared this stadium.

"Good morning, Lord Hokage." Lord Arata said, smiling under his bandages.

"Greetings, my friend." Sarutobi stood up and friendly hugged the merchant guild head. "I must say I am more than impressed. This stadium is beautiful. And the welcome events are truly popular.

Arata chuckled. "Well, if you want to make great profit, it is best to know what people want to buy."

"Of course."

The head of The Seven Lucky Gods Trade Guild took his seat to Third Hokage's right. "Well now, I am intrigued as to how will the young ninjas perform today." He admitted.

"You placed your bet, didn't you?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked, chuckling.

"As much as I like to make money, as any merchant, even we know when it is better not to take risk. I'm simply curious if there's a good kid I could hire as a body guard one day."

"Oh, I'm sure you will find someone suitable from my village." A new voice spoke. The two turned to face another quest of honor- kazekage. The man was dressed in the same fashion as the Hokage, thought his robes were white-and-dark blue instead of white-and-red.

"Lord Kazekage. Greetings." The aged hokage stood up and greeted his quest. "We are honored to have you here with us."

"There's no need, Lord Hokage. I'm just interested in how my children will perform in the finals." Hokage nodded in understanding.

It's been an hour already, and the stadium was full. In the arena, the finalists were standing strayed, allowing the VIPs to take a good look at them. While the Hokage was saying his speech, the members of the rookie three who did not make it to the final round were mentally cheering for their teammates. However, something got their attention, as the contestants were going to their booth. Naruto and Sasuke have not shown up yet.

**To be continued…**

**Omake**

"WHAT?" a loud roar could be heard through out the whole Hidden Cloud Village, which was place in the mountains, High enough to let the clouds cover the buildings. In the tallest of them all, the Raikage Tower, the village leader, who was a tall, muscular, dark skinned man with blond dreadlock, moustache and goatee, was fuming in rage. "How could it be that your team dropped out on the prelims, Darui?"

Darui scratched in head, as he truthfully didn't know what to say. He knew it would mean trouble if he was to explain this to his upper up, who was dressed like a professional wrestler, but he had not much of a choice.

"Actually, it appears the competition was better than we thought it would be, sir." He finally answered. "I'm sorry it turned out this way."

The Raikage stood up, ready to hurt someone. "Darui! This is unacceptable! I should…!"

"Dad." He was interrupted by Akemi. "You can't punish Darui for this. If anyone should be punished, it should be us for not training hard enough. So please, calm down."

The Raikage started to growl, clearly struggling to keep his cool. Veins started to cover his entire body, while his face became red because of the blood rush. He finally raised his hands, ready to hit someone, making Omoi and the village leader's secretary scream in panic. However…

"Oh, Akemi, you're always like that." The intimidating kage hugged his daughter, smiling stupidly and, while talking in a deep tone earlier, now spoke with an unfitting, high tone. "You're always thinking of other well being, considering your own limits first in the situation like this. I'm sure you'll become a great kage like papa one day."

"Um… Thanks, dad. But I'm not really interested in being a kage." The Cloud's Mach Queen said, feeling a bit uncomfortable. The raikage was shocked.

"What? But I already prepared you your very own kage seat."

"I'm sorry. But I just don't feel like sitting in the office most of the time."

"Oh no. I hurt my l'il girl's feelings." The village leader panicked and pulled out a kunai from his belt. "I cannot forgive myself. I will punish myself for that by performing seppuku!"

Before the raikage could do even raise his blade high enough, he was kicked in the face and everyone, but his daughter, dog-pilled him. "Are you insane, dad? If you don't calm down, I won't speak to you for three weeks!" Akemi scolded him.

"NO! IF YOU DO THAT, PAPA WILL HAVE A MENTAL BRAKEDOWN!" The raikage cried, making everyone sweat drop.

"Y'know what, Darui-sensei?" Omoi asked. "This is when I wonder if our raikage is really the one who wears the pants in this village."

Darui just nodded. "It must be dull."

**Omake end**

* * *

**A.N. / Well, the finals are next. Hope you liked the prelude.**


	26. Chapter 25 The finals part 1

**Chapter 25**

**The Finals- part 1- The best weapon**

The Hokage finished his speech. But there was still no sign of Sasuke. Or Naruto. In the audience, Sakura remembered how the blond ran out the hospital two weeks ago, after their little encounter with Gaara. She believed Naruto got scared and decided to quit. Not that she could blame him. If she could, she would try and persuade Sasuke not to fight him. No, what was she thinking. Sasuke is the Rookie of the Year. He was the only one who could face that psychopath. Ino saw her expression, but putted that aside.

In the competitors' booth, the finalists sat still, waiting patiently for their turn. Most of them showed signs of discomfort as they waited. The two eldest of the Sand siblings started to whisper.

"This isn't good." Kankuro whispered. "I'm the first one to fight. And I don't want to show Crow's abilities just yet."

"Calm down, Kankuro." Temari hushed him. "You know it'll take some time before the signal is given. We have to play along for now. Besides, you might expose some of your opponent's clan's tactics. So just use half the power." She told him. However Kankuro gave his sister a skeptical look.

"Geez, I dunno, Temari."

The blond kunoichi, in annoyance, stomped on his foot. "Then know, you idiot!"

"Now then, let the finals begin!" Lord Third Hokage announced. As he took his seat, a shinobi appeared in the arena centre. He was dressed in the usual jonin attire, but his forehead protector was a bandana set backwards, and with a senbon in his mouth. The man had brown hair long enough to hide his ears, blue eyes and a calm expression.

"I, Genma, will be the referee." The man said. "The rules are simple. 1. Last one standing wins. 2. The fight is over if one of the competitors forfeits. It's also over should I interfere in the life threatening situation. 3. The finalists are allowed to use whatever means necessary, as long as they don't kill their opponent. 4. There are three people missing. One of them won't be for the finals. However, the other two, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, in order to avoid disqualification, need to appear before their turns. Should they fail, their opponent will automatically pass to the next round." The audience was mad. They couldn't believe the last Uchiha hasn't reported in yet. What if he doesn't show? Most people betted their money on him.

"The first contestants are to enter the arena!" Genma called. Kankuro jumped down to the ground and approached the ref, waiting for his competition. Ryu didn't disappoint him. He entered in the same style, carrying something wrapped in a piece of black cloth. The two faced each other, awaiting the referee's signal.

"Ryu! Kick the loser's ass from here to the Hidden Cloud Village!" Anko cheered. But there was someone who didn't enjoy it.

"Hey, you can't wish my brother to fail like that." Temari protested. "Kankuro won't even break a sweat fighting your boyfriend."

Anko blushed at the comment and growled at the blond. "His not my boyfriend, you fake blonde! And I bet this guy, in addition to playing with dolls, wears a diaper!"

"First of- I am blonde. Second- My brother doesn't wear a diaper. He doesn't wear anything under his pants!"

"Really? What is he? A hippie? And I don't believe you to be blonde. There's no way a blonde can be this intelligent!"

"You idiot! That's a joke! Of course the blonde's are intelligent!" Temari roared in fury, foaming.

"Yeah right!"

As the two kunoichis were arguing in the booth, Kankuro, completely red of embarrassment placed his puppet on the ground and unwrapped it.

"The first fight, Niigetsu Ryu vs. Kankuro of the Desert. Begin!" Genma called and jumped back. Just in time.

The puppeteer wasted no time and made his puppet fire the senbons from its mouth. The green haired genin dodged the projectiles with ease and dashed towards the Sand ninja. As he was closing his distance, Crow appeared before him and kicked him back. Ryu back flipped and regained his footing. Another rain of senbons was onto him. He quickly made a few hand seals. "Hidden Shadow Assassination Cloak!" he called and, as if loosing his balance, fell back. But instead of hitting the ground, he sunk into his shadow and disappeared. Kankuro remembered from the prelims that jutsu, so set Crow to aim for his shadow. His trap was set. This was too easy. Temari was right. There was nothing to worry about.

Then he heard the clunk. When he raised his head, he saw Ryu coming out from the puppet's shadow instead and hitting it with a bomb containing some sticky goo. Ryu dashed towards the puppeteer and rammed him to the ground, pinning him with a kunai.

"That was a good way to use your knowledge of the enemy's jutsu." Ryu praised Kankuro. "However, the fact that this is a two-on-one fight, in a sense, you forgot that I could use the puppet's shadow. In other words, you actually believed I would come out of your shadow and enter this obvious trap? Give me a break. Who do you think I am? The Toad Hermit?"

In some unknown place, a certain white-haired hermit felt the urge to kill.

"Give up?" Ryu asked the pinned Kankuro. He in return just smiled and his face broke, revealing to be a puppet. In surprise, he failed to notice a shuriken incoming from his left. But luckily, as he jumped back in surprise, the projectiles missed. "What was that? A mosquito?" He asked, truly not knowing it was a shuriken.

Back in the booth, Shikamaru was fighting the urge to laugh. "I can't believe we're related." He commented.

Back in the arena, the puppeteer pulled a few chakra strings, so Crow extended blades from its hands. Then he ordered it to attack his opponent. Crow dashed towards the genin with eyes in two different colors and kept slashing, missing every time, but pushing him back. Ryu finally reached the wall. He was cornered. As he saw the puppet incoming, he made a quick hand seal sequence. "Hidden Shadow Sophisticating Decapitation!" he called and slammed his hand in the shadow. As Crow was about to stab him, the blades stopped just in inch away from him. Crow's neck was wrapped by a tendril, which seemed to be pulling it into the shadow. Kankuro couldn't stand it and pulled out two kunai. He immediately threw them into his opponent, who managed to jump out of the way, but in the consequence releasing the jutsu.

"Seems you made a poor choice by not using that jutsu on me instead." Kankuro mocked. "On the other hand, it's no victory if you die the same time your enemy does. But hey, you're doing quite well. I've got some arsenal in Crow's design, while you have nothing."

Ryu's eyes glared at the puppeteer. The way this guy talked to him annoyed him. He recalled the memories from just a few years ago, just before he finished the academy.

**Flashback**

_Ryu fell on his back, wincing in pain. A blade hit the floor, almost stabbing his ear.__ The young boy was scared. His fear rose when a blade was placed near his throat. The sweat ran down his temple, as he expected to die now. The blade was pulled back. The man before him, Yamamoto, gave him the look of disappointment._

"_You failed again, my son." He said. "Why do you fail to master the basic of our clan?" he asked, as Ryu stood up. The man turned away from his son and began to walk towards the door. "If you are to become worthy, you must learn that, ever since Takaya the Two Moons, the art of the sword is the clan's greatest strength, even only with our shadow jutsus. The sword is your greatest weapon. If you fail to learn how to use it, you will loose you life. Without a weapon you are nothing." The Clan's head finally left, leaving the young boy alone, trembling in both fear and sadness._

**End flashback**

Then his mind recalled the day Team 12 was formed.

**Flashback**

The three freshly-promoted genins sat by the tree, looking at their sensei towering then.

"Alright then. Let Us introduce ourselves. I am Nekokage Kuromaru. I am a weapons master with no equal in this village. I like pain, fighting, cats, blood, danger, adrenaline rush, weapons and more pain. I dislike girly-men, pink, men in pink, rainbow, people with no honor, cat haters and above all- weaklings. My dream for the future: see to it that you, pathetic pieces of meat, will grow upon into strong shinobis. Now, introduce yourselves."

Ryu started off first. "I am Niigetsu Ryu. Son of Niigetsu Yamamoto and, therefore, the clan heir. I like philosophy, riddles, scrolls, anything about warfare and fighting my fights by outsmarting my opponents. I hate it when people rely on their signature or clan skills as well as weapons, as I find them overrated. My dream is to show my father that I am someone even without a weapon of my own." He finished. Kuromaru eyed him in a way he could probably kill him.

"Well now, I can tell you hate me. But you know what, kid. This is where your wrong." He said, confusing the green haired kid. Listen carefully. Here's the little secret about a weapon."

**End flashback**

Ryu raised his head, looking seriously. He stood up and untied the strings holding the cloth wrapped.

"You know what, pal?" Ryu asked friendly, making Kankuro take his stance. "There are many clans in this world with a ritual known as the rite of passage. It's basically a custom, through which a child proofs him or herself to be worthy of being treated as an adult. Through that, they gain the right to learn some more advanced jutsus. In our clan's case, after turning thirteen, the boys are to forge their own swords. Well, here is mine." As he said it, he unwrapped his sword, throwing the cloth away.

His blade looked amazing. The handle was long enough to be held in both hands, yet short enough for one handed use. The as Ryu unheeded it, had a black, slightly curved blade with a red text written on it. A beautiful sword.

"The writing says 'I fight like any blade, but I win through wisdom'" Ryu explained. "And like it says, in this fight, I will win, and proof to my father that I was always armed with the greatest weapon!" he declared and took his stance, pointing the blade at the puppeteer.

Kankuro got Crow to cover him. He heard about the Niigetsu fighting style with swords. So he wasn't going to take this lightly. He had his puppet dash at the green-haired swordsman, and while half way there, shot some senbons. Ryu dodged it just in time and he dashed at the puppet. The two clashed and stood back-to-back from each other. After a few seconds, a few drops of blood dripped from the young Niigetsu's cheek. Kankuro smiled.

But his smile soon fated as Crow's one arm fell off. Ryu jumped towards the puppeteer, seeing an opening. He was getting close. He was going to win. But then Crow turned around and shot one of the blades towards the Leaf genin's back. As the green-haired ninja was getting close, he suddenly ducked, allowing the blade to fly over him and towards the Sand genin. Kankuro panicked and jumped to his left just in time avoid the blade. As he hit the ground, he noticed he lost control over Crow that fell to the ground. The puppeteer wanted to make it move again, but his arms and legs were caught by shadow tendrils and sank into the shadow. Ryu walked over and pointed his sword towards the Sand genin's throat.

"Too bad. Now what'll you do?" young Niigetsu asked mockingly. Kankuro glared at him and soon opened his mouth, revealing his senbon cannon. Ryu jumped away just in time to evade the shot. He looked back the 'Crow', which revealed it self to be Kankuro. The Sand genin smiled in self satisfaction while taking of the poncho.

Strangely, Ryu smirked. He made a 'ram' seal. In a blink of an eye, a puff of smoke covered Kankuro. As the smoke lifted, Kankuro was tied up. A trap? But when… Kankuro's eyes widened in realization. When the Leaf genin clashed with his puppet. Crow was now immobile. Ryu wasted no time and appeared right before the puppeteer, delivering two strong blows to the face and a kick to the gut. Kankuro winced in pain. As he raised his head, he found himself facing a blade. "Come on." The Leaf genin advised. "Say it."

Kankuro growled but did it. "I… give."

"Sure you are." Ryu mocked him.

"But how did you know I…?"

"Because it's basic knowledge that a puppeteer ninja is weak in close combat when they have to face the enemy directly. And you my friend just played my game."

"Don't get cocky, you loser. If I were to use my full arsenal, you would be the one down." The puppeteer shouted in rage, earning Ryu's look of disbelieve.

"Are you stupid? You really thing the number of senbons, the size of you swords, or the metal your kunai was forged of can make you the winner?" Kankuro looked at his opponent in confusion. "True. These factors can grant you the advantage. But none of these is the greatest weapon. I used to think the same myself years back, until my sensei told me what is the greatest of all weapons." Ryu looked up, his mind wondering off. "The greatest weapon, that makes all other weapons look like nothing but toys, and can rival anything- the one's mind."

Kankuro looked at this kid differently. This guy… he found no value in the puppet's number of armaments, but in its usage. And Kankuro believed he lost because he was holding back. How foolish.

"The winner is Niigetsu Ryu!" Genma announced. The sound of applause roared throughout the stadium, congratulating the contestants. Ryu untied Kankuro and offered him a hand, which he accepted with a smile. The two congratulated each other. As Kankuro went to collect his puppet, Ryu looked up, finding his father. He smiled when the head of the Niigetsu clan nodded. Father was proud of him. The young heir sheeted his blade and walked towards the booth. He looked at the audience again, this time spotting his sensei, who gave him thumbs up.

**Flashback**

"_A weapon is a tool of death." Kuromaru told Ryu. "It has the power to take life. However it is nothing in the hand of someone who doesn't know it."_

"_What do you mean sensei?" Ryu asked. "This sounds like a drunk's talk."_

"_A weapon may give you the power to kill your opponent. But without skill and experience it's nothing more then a wooden sword. But you are already born with the greatest weapon. One that allows you to easily defeat the enemy who's much stronger than you and use other weapons in a way unimaginable."_

"_What's that?"_

"_One that is underestimated the most. A sword can cut your opponent. A kunai can stab him. A hammer can smash him. But to out smart him is to truly defeat him. Your greatest weapon, Ryu, is your mind." The bold jonin said, pointing at the genin's head. "Remember that. As long as you use your head, you're the most dangerous ninja on the battlefield."_

**End Flashback**

Ryu thankfully nodded and made his way. His sensei was right. He may have forged himself a beautiful, well balanced blade, but it was his mind that was his greatest weapon.

**To be continued…**

* * *

**A.N. /** Hope you enjoyed. And I'm skipping the TemaShika fight, because it's going to be pretty much as in the manga anyway. Until next time, folks.


	27. Chapter 26 The finals part 2

**Chapter 26**

**The finale- part 2- the delayed fight**

"I give up." Shikamaru said in a lazy tone, confusing everyone.

"W-what do you mean by that, you idiot?" Temari asked, thinking the Nara before her was mocking her. After all, the two were fighting for about an hour, showing their brilliance of tactical thinking, only to have her caught by the Nara clan's famous Shadow Possession Jutsu. As it seemed like his victory, it was unreal that he just gave the fight.

"Well, to be frank, I figured out about 20 ways to finish this fight in my favor. However, I don't have the chakra necessary for half of them. Three other options would mean releasing the jutsu, which is too risky with your reflexes, and the rest just wouldn't be effective enough as of now. Besides, I just don't feel like being a chunin. It sounds just too troublesome."

Temari narrowed her eyes. She just couldn't believe what the Nara said. She mentally swore to make him suffer a great deal of humiliation should she get the chance. The audience also didn't take it quite well. Everyone booed at the young shadow user. Ino was already plotting how to kill him, while Chouji tried to calm her down. Even Asuma was disappointed with the outcome of the match, though not surprised. After all, when you learn your student has the IQ level of 200, nothing about him can surprise you. Right?

"Since Nara Shikamaru forfeited, the winner is Temari of the Desert!" Genma announced. After that, the two contestants made their way to the booth, wanting to rest from their fight. The Leaf genin, however, knew it's best to sit afar from the blonde. That glare just didn't promise anything good.

"It's time for the third match! Uchiha Sasuke and Gaara of the Desert are to come to the arena!" the referee called. Gaara showed up, but there was no sign of the Uchiha. This was a bit disturbing.

"What the hell?" Sakura asked. "Where is Sasuke? I was sure he'll be on time for his match."

"I don't know." Ino replied. "Maybe he's on his way, but something's holding him?" she turned to face her pink-haired friend, who seemed angry for some reason.

"Either Naruto's delaying him on purpose, to get him disqualified, or…" she stopped, as she remembered that encounter with Gaara earlier. No way. Could that sand user have something to do with this? It would definitely explain why Sasuke was late. Then again, why was Naruto not present yet?

"Sakura? You don't really think Naruto could plot something like that, do you?" Ino broke the pink-head's thought.

* * *

However, the kages, no matter what their suspicions, didn't like this themselves. That and the fact the audience was getting mad with the situation. The Hokage had an idea of what to do. These people may have come to see this fight, but he couldn't just let the Uchiha off the hook.

"Tell Genma to announce Sasuke's disqualification." Sarutobi ordered the jonin with what appeared to be veins covering the left side of his face. The Leaf ninja nodded and was about to go, when…

"Just a moment, Lord Hokage." The kazekage said, stopping the jonin at the same time. "Are you really willing to remove the young Uchiha from the finals just because he didn't show up?"

"I'm afraid so." The age Leaf leader answered. "Why do you ask? Is it because this is your son's fight?"

"It's not that. The thing is that these people really expect to see this fight." Kazekage said. Before he could continue, Arata cut in.

"I believe I know where Lord Kazekage is going, Lord Sarutobi. If you are to disqualify him right now, just because he didn't appear in time his fight should take place, it may cause uproar, badly influencing the village's relation with other countries and towns."

The aged kage wondered for a minute. The two were right. This fight, whether he wanted it or not, turned into a political affair. Removing the last Uchiha would be bad for the village. He had little to no choice then. "What do you suggest we do then?" he asked, despite knowing the answer.

"Let's just proceed to the next fight. After that, should Uchiha Sasuke not show up, you will remove him. Kazekage proposed. The hokage turned to the head of the trade guild, finding him agreeing with the wind shadow. Sarutobi sighed in defeat and corrected his jonin.

* * *

"Ahem. It would seem we have slight complication with one of the contestants!" Genma announced. "Therefore, we are forced to push that fight for later and progress to the next one! Mitarashi Anko and Aburame Shino are to enter the arena!"

The red-haired boy glared with anger, but did move towards the booth. He would get his change to show existence later. He knew it. Half way there, he passed the two finalists that were going to start their round. Anko took her position and eyed the Aburame, though her thoughts were elsewhere. She was wondering why Naruto haven't appeared yet. She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to think about that. She had a fight to win. And if she was to loose… oh boy. But this Aburame Shino… that guy looked like an enigma. He was stoic, speechless and unemotional. As if he was certain he'll win. She could already tell he released his destruction beetles and got them set to attack her the moment this fight starts. She could just feel it.

"So, are you going to announce the start of this fight or what?" Anko asked. Well, actually, she was hoping it'll take some more time, but her impatience took the better of her.

Genma gave her the look. Then he sighed. It couldn't be helped, but she was right. He couldn't keep this silence forever. "Fight four- Aburame Shino and Mitarashi Anko! Fight!" the man with the toothpick dropped his hand and jumped back.

Anko smirked and jumped away, while throwing two kunais with paper bombs at her opponent. As they were about to reach him, Shino's beetles engulfed the projectiles and changed their course sideways. As they exploded in the save distance from the insect tamer, the young Aburame commanded his army to surround the purple-haired kunoichi. She looked around, to find herself in a real trap.

"If I were you, I would give up." Shino advised her, getting her attention. "As you can see, no matter where you try to run, you will only be caught by my beetles. If you try to jump or attack, they will attack you while blocking the jutsu. There's absolutely no move you can do without being attacked. Even if you try Substitution, you will only provoke the attack. No matter what you try, it's your lost." He explained her. Anko glared at him and looked around again. But he was right. They would attack her no matter what she tried. She was surrounded by a thick ring of beetles. What should she do? There had to be a loop hole in the defense. There always is. She made a 'ram' seal and dissolved into smoke, substituted by a live-sized rag doll. Shino looked around, finding her behind him.

"That wasn't quite smart. My beetles will now attack you without hesitation." He said, as more insects flew out of his body.

Anko just smirked.

To Shino's surprise, the beetles flew the other direction, engulfing the doll. He tried to order his army to leave it, but they wouldn't obey him. That confused everyone.

* * *

"W-what is going o-on?" Hinata asked Kiba, who was sitting next to her. "W-why would Shino's b-beetles d-disobey him?"

Kiba sniffed. After a few seconds, he didn't bother hiding his surprise. "Now that is one sweet smell!" he yelled, getting the Hyuga girl's attention.

"W-what are t-talking a-about, Kiba?"

"Can't you smell it? That doll smells extremely sweet. From what I heard, some insects are easily attracted to anything sweet." The dog tamer explained. But for the destruction beetles to be affected by this? Was the Mitarashi knowledgeable about that or was it dumb luck? Whatever the case, she just gained the upper hand.

* * *

And she wasn't about to waste it. Anko launched towards the Aburame and delivered a right hook. But Shino managed to dodge it. And he kept dodging every attack Anko tried to land on him, seemingly with no way to defend himself. Anko flipped over him and successfully delivered a kick to the back of his head. Upon landing, she smiled. This was her victory.

Or so she thought.

As Shino hit the dirt, he dissolved into insects. An Insect Clone Jutsu. But if that was a clone, then… She substituted herself with a log just in time before they caught her. But then she jumped out of the bush, where there was another group of the destruction beetles. Shino kept sending another group of insects or regrouping them, trying to corner her. But in time he noticed that the more he tried, the easier it seemed for her to avoid the swarm.

* * *

"Humph. It seems her skills are developing faster with her age." Kuromaru whispered to Fukiko. She nodded.

"Yeah. Her ability to adapt to the situation and reflexes are already beyond what she would be normally capable of considering your training method." She commented. "In just a few years she will definitely be acknowledged as Leaf's strongest kunoichi if not the top Leaf ninja."

"A real super soldier. To think it's an offspring of that unsuccessful experiment you reported back then." The weapon master said with the troubled voice. He gave the Mitarashi a serious look. "When are you going to tell her?"

Fukiko seemed shock at the question. She looked at her comrade, then down, as if in shame. But it was fear. "I promised to tell her after this exam, but…"

"You fear her reaction to the truth." Nekokage received a nod as an answer. "You can't keep this a secret from her forever. Sooner or later she will start to see things. It is better you…"

"Don't tell me what's right." Fukiko cut him off, her voice nearly on edge. "You were there when I was found with Anko. You could tell just by looking at me that it was a nightmare what I went through." She sighed seeing her comrade's face. She focused back on her cousin's fight. "I fear to tell her. I fear I'll loose her with just that." She tried to fight, but tears started to run down her cheeks. "I don't think she's ready to know the truth. I… I-I just…"

She was interrupted by a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at the bald giant, who was giving her a warm, in a way, look. "There are some things in this world men can never be ready to hear. You just have to hope that love they've been given can give them the strength to deal with it."

Fukiko's eyes widened. He was right. She just had to tell her and hope she would comprehend it. She reached for her eyes to wash the tears away and smiled at her friend. By their first meeting, even she was intimidated by the weapon master. But in time she found the best friend in him. She nodded in appreciation, giving him a big smile. They both chuckle and returned to the fight.

* * *

Down in the arena, Anko dodged another shuriken-swarm combo, though barely. She knew she couldn't keep dodging. Sooner or later she will be caught. It was just a matter of time. The thing was she was practically fighting an army, while she was solo. If she was to win this fight, she would have to separate the general from the army.

Then she noticed she was cornered. What she thought to be a stone happened to be a transformed swarm. She looked around but she didn't have enough space for evasion. Shino wasted no breath. He gave her the chance before. He wouldn't give her another one.

He commanded the swarm to attack her. But Anko still had a trick up her sleeve. A few small orbs fell out her sleeves and exploded, engulfing her in a dark smoke. The destruction beetles immediately backed away. Though after a few seconds they started to act strangely. That surprised Shino as whenever he ordered them to return to him, they just wouldn't obey.

"What happened?" He wondered. "My beetles are not responding to my commands. No, they're not responding properly."

Shino looked at the smoke, from which Anko seemed emerge. She was smiling. "Like it, Bug Boy?" She asked mockingly. "I heard that smoke messes up the insect's senses, making it act chaotically. To be blunt, I wasn't sure how true it was, so I made a special drug that, as it appears, drives them crazy."

"I see." Shino cut in. "You studied about insects and learned that some of them have different behavior depending on the pheromones and scent they smell."

"Some people can manipulate the swarm of bees if they know how they react to what smell. After a bee stings its victim, by loosing its sting, it releases a pheromone that, basically, makes them attack the same target. A kind of the alert mechanism. So I'm happy to see that my little scent bomb affected your beetles at least the way it did." She smirked. Then she jumped to her left, getting away from the swarm and pulled out a kusarigama. She started to spin the iron weight, to build up some energy, while focusing some chakra into her weapon. "It's game over, baby. Iron Serpent Hammer Strike!" she attacked. As the metallic block was send, the chakra formed three snake heads launching towards the stoic genin, who quickly jumped to his right, avoiding the attack in the nick of time. But his joy didn't last for long. Anko twisted the chain, making the block change its course back at the original target. Shino jumped upwards, again evading the attack. But as he was in the air, the purple-haired kunoichi tossed a dagger, which was in the place of a kama to her kusarigama, towards him, hitting his leg. The insect tamer fell to the ground, grabbing his leg in pain. He noticed a shadow covering him. He felt her cold presence. The sun reflected in his sunglasses as he looked at Anko, who licked his blood off the blade. "Hmm. You're not bad, though I prefer Naruto's blood. Especially when he believes he outsmarted me. Well, enough playing around." She aimed her weapon at the Aburame.

"About time." He said seriously. To Anko's surprise, the destruction beetles flew out of every pocket in her jacket, successfully engulfing her. She was shocked. How could he play her like this? HOW? She could feel her chakra draining. Her weapon dropped. She tried to do something. She wanted to at least take him down with her.

But darkness embraced her.

"That was quite a fight." Shino said, as he tried, the key word tried, to get up. "However, while you were still surrounded at the beginning, I had some of my beetles sneak into sneak into your pockets for this kind of scenario. But I must compliment you- no one has ever shown as much knowledge about the insects as you did. So it is logical that I'd be careful not to enrage you."

Genma smiled at the two. This was quite a fight. He's seen better, but it's not everyday when you see an Aburame having a hard time and close to defeat.

"The winner is Aburame Shino!" He announced. The audience cheered.

"That Aburame kid is strong." Someone said.

"Yeah. But that Mitarashi girl wasn't so bad herself. It's not everyday you see a ninja that takes their time to learn every single detail of an aspect they know already about their enemy." Some noble said. They were all divided in their decisions about the last fight now. Especially the judges. On the one hand, Mitarashi Anko has shown quite the ability of adapting to the situation as well as the fact she knew of the destruction beetles being the Aburame's main 'weapon' and studied about the insects, using what weaknesses she could find. On the other hand, Aburame Shino has shown a tactical thinking, preparing even a trap for the no-other-option situation.

As the medics were about to take the purple-haired kunoichi, she woke up.

"Take me to the booth." She requested. The medics were against it at first but did as she asked when one of them stated that she only needed some rest. After a minute, Genma addressed the audience again.

"Now it's time for the fifth round! Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Neji are to enter the arena!" he called. After a minute, Neji did show up. But there was no sign of the blond headed knucklehead. "Uzumaki Naruto is to enter the arena!" the ref repeated. Still nothing.

* * *

"What the hell?" Sakura roared. "Where is that idiot?"

"Maybe he forfeited?" Ino asked. Sakura gave her a questioning look. "I'm just saying."

"I can understand Sasuke is late because of Kakashi-sensei. But Naruto?" Sakura thought.

"Whatever. It's not like he would be able to beat Neji."

"You have that right, girl." Someone said. As the two kunoichis turned to see the person who said that, they saw Ten Ten. "Neji has already showed you what he can do. Now he's practically invincible here."

"Yeah? What makes you so sure?" Sakura asked with a tick mark on her head.

"Well, Neji is a genius. While your friend graduated as a dead-last if I heard right."

"She has a point, Sakura." Ino commented. Sakura wanted to argue, but she knew they were right. So Naruto must have chickened out.

"Don't underestimate him." The three girls turned to see Kiba with a fake smile. Apparently, whatever he was going to say would hurt his pride. "I did just that and you saw how I lost. He may have no skill what so ever, but his strength is great enough to take the blonde seriously."

The three looked upon each other. Well, the Inuzuka was right about that.

* * *

"This is the last call! Uzumaki Naruto is to show himself! If he fails to do so, he'll be disqualified!" Genma's calling came, getting everyone's attention. There was a dead silence on the stadium.

"referee. How about you just call the match?" Neji suggested. "It's obvious that the looser is a coward and escaped his destiny of loosing."

"You're quite a jerk." Genma stated. "But you may have a point. He hasn't shown up by now, he most likely won't show up at all." Genma raised his hand.

"Attention everyone. As the contestant, Uzumaki Naruto, did not show up, he is…"

"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"

That call stopped the referee, silencing everyone. The silence was broken by the sound of the footsteps. They were getting louder. Genma, Neji, the genins in the booth, everyone looked towards the corridor entrance in the arena. Somebody was coming. Their look hardened to see who was coming.

The person entered the arena. It was him. His clothes ragged horribly, with multiple holes and missing sleeve. His vest was just a piece of material on his shoulder, while his jacket was mostly covering the back of his right leg. His forehead protector, instead of being around his neck, was on his forehead. He also had multiple bandages on his body. Mainly his entire left arm, right forearm, some of his torso from what you could tell seeing through the holes in his shirt, his neck and some plasters on his left cheek.

Uzumaki Naruto has shown up.

**To be continued…**


	28. Chapter 27 The finals part 3

**Chapter 27**

**The finals- part 3- Eyes of destiny**

The moment the blonde entered the arena, Sakura felt the urge to kill him. Why you ask? Because he almost got disqualified. This was unheard of. And he tried to look cool with his late appearance. No one has the right to do that but Sasuke. But wait, what was she thinking? The knucklehead at least did show up. But by the way he looks…

"It seems we have arrived just in time for Neji's fight." Someone said. The gang looked around to find Guy-sensei and Lee coming down to them. Lee had a bit of a trouble since he was using the crutch to move.

"Guy-sensei! Lee! W-wait… Why is Lee here? Shouldn't he be resting?" Sakura asked.

"I'm sorry. But I could not bear to let this fight go unseen by my eyes!" Lee explained. "Besides, I needed some fresh air."

"And that is youthful, Lee." Guy said, giving his student a thumb up. "Anyway, what's the situation so far?"

"Ryu, Temari and Shino made it to the next round. Sasuke is still no where to be found, so they just progressed to the next fight and Naruto and Neji are just to begin." Ino reported. The two look-alikes nodded in acknowledgement. But then it hit them.

"WHAT? UCHIHA SASUKE GOT DISQUALIFIED?" both yelled.

"N-no, of course not." Sakura answered. "They just put the fight until later." She saw the two relax.

* * *

Genma eyed the short blonde that just appeared. The kid was messed up seriously, yet smiling confidently. The referee was thinking if the Uzumaki kid was just being cocky. Yet his stance…

"You really fine fighting like this?" Genma asked. "You look like you've just seen a hell of an action. Maybe you should go and rest."

Naruto's smile just got wider. "Nah. I'll just take a piece of him." Naruto answered, pointing at his opponent, who clearly got annoyed.

"You loser. You'll be sorry for this." Neji growled. Genma just shrugged and let the two to take their places.

"The fifth fight! Hyuga Neji vs. Uzumaki Naruto! Fight!" The ref dropped his arm and took a safe distance. All hell was loose.

Or not. No one made a move.

Neji activated his byakugan, the clan's genetic ability. His white, pupilless eyes showed some pupil-like features, while the face on the eye height was covered by veins. His look was a death-promise. Anyone could tell that.

* * *

"Hanabi. Take a close look. That is the power of the Hyuga." Hiashi, father of Hinata's, said to his daughter and Hinata's younger sister. The brown haired girl looked at her father and nodded before looking back at the arena. This was going to be a massacre.

* * *

The two just stood there for a while, not moving a muscle. And that was surprising, considering how impulsive Naruto was. What was his game?

'_This is strange._' Neji thought. '_I was certain he'd just jump at me with his brute strength the minute the ref started this fight. Why's he standing there and doing nothing? Is he trying to force me to make the first move? That must be it. We'll see how long he can wait._'

* * *

In the genin booth, the finalists were having similar thoughts.

"Why's Naruto just standing there?" Anko asked. "This isn't like him at all."

"Don't ask me." The young Nara asked. "I'm still trying to figure out why he's so beat up."

"It's only logical to assume his got a plan his just executing." The insect tamer assumed.

"You kidding me, right?" the sand kunoichi growled. "We've waited all that time just for THAT? Well, at least he doesn't hide from his opponent like others."

"Hey now!" Shikamaru said with an edge. "Don't be so troublesome on me."

* * *

In the audience, Sakura was loosing her patience as well.

"What's the matter with him?" She asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Guy said, getting everyone's attention. "This must be the 'First one to move looses' scenario of the fight. If one of them is to move, then the victory goes to the other. Naruto is most likely provoking Neji to make that mistake. HOW YOUTHFUL! HE'S A TRUE GENIUS!"

"You really think so?" the pink haired kunoichi asked. "Well, considering Naruto was a class prankster and is the most unpredictable genin I know, you must be right." She smiled.

* * *

Down in the arena, Naruto was still standing, like a statue. What ever his plan is, it must be the mother of all strategies. What patience.

But then he started giggling like an idiot, drooling at the same time. "Or maybe I could ask old man Ichiraku for an extra large bowl instead." He wondered loudly, causing everyone to fall.

Everyone except Neji.

"You dare mock me?" he roared. He was really mad.

Naruto made a serious face. "Sorry about that. I was day dreaming waiting for you. Anyway, if you won't come to me, I'll come to you." As the blonde said that, he threw three shurikens at the Hyuga, who easily dodged it. After that, he easily dodge the coming down from behind him leg, which made a small crater in the ground. Naruto was a little surprised with that, but wasn't about to quit. He made four clones and had them charge at the Hyuga. Neji immediately took the clan stance, the gentle fist stance, and ready to intercept the group. And of course he was not disappointed.

The first clone tried to right hook him from his left, but failed after Neji dodged the punch and hit him in the middle of his chest, causing him to dispel. Then he flipped over another clone, which tried to kick the back of his head and delivered it a strike to its shoulders. Then he threw to kunais in opposite directions, hitting two more clones. He turned towards Naruto and dashed towards him. Once he reached him, he delivered a strong blow to his gut. The blonde was gagging, fighting for air… before he dispersed.

That surprised Neji. When did the blonde make a fifth shadow clone? His eyes widened and he dodged to his left, just in time to dodge a flying kick. Then the Hyuga dodged, avoiding a lariat. The blonde landed and turned to eye his opponent. Neji just glared at him.

"Do you see now?" he asked. "Fate has decided your demise. You can not touch me. You will not win."

To his confusion, Naruto just smirked. "Oh I see alright." He said. "I see you have a 360 degree vision field. That's how you can tell where my attacks are coming from."

Neji got a little surprise, as well as the Hyugas watching this fight and the kages. This kid WAS sharp. Neji shook off his surprise.

"It doesn't matter what you learned. You still can not defeat me." The Hyuga said and launched towards the blonde. Naruto reached for his pouch and pulled out a smoke bomb, which he immediately used.

"Let's see if you can fight me when you can't see me, man." The blonde allowed the cloud to envelope him, believing he managed to escape his opponent. Surprisingly, as he was about to move away, his danger sense told him to block. He did so just in time to block blow to his chest. Still, it got him surprised. But he had no time to think about that. Neji pressed on, trying to hit the blonde. Key word trying, as the dark haired Hyuga just couldn't land a hit on him. Naruto's reflexes were just too good, apparently. But he kept trying, seeing as his defenses seemed to be weak even so. Al he had to do then was deliver a blow he wouldn't manage to block or dodge in time. As he found an opening, he aimed for the shoulder, his objective to immobilize the blonde's arm.

Then he showed his surprised face and jumped to his left. He barely, just barely, just avoided a clone dropping on him from above. Naruto used this opportunity and took some distance from him, accompanied by the clone. The Hyuga seemed to be mad, but quickly smirked.

"Something wrong, loser?" he said. "With these eyes, I can see anything. I am destined to win. So why keep on trying? Why bother fighting when you know what future brings?"

Naruto gave him a hard glare. He thought he knew what's with the guy. But he was wrong. Still, he couldn't loose to a jerk like him.

"Oh, you claim your eyes see everything, like that clone a minute ago?" Naruto mocked. Then he made a few clones, which were to dog pile the Hyuga. But Neji jumped away and made his way through the clones, aiming for Naruto. The blonde engaged him in a hand-to-hand combat, blocking and delivering punches. He could tell Neji's blows were precise. Then his clones entered the fight. Again, Neji seemed to dodge the attack in the nick of time. And as he engaged the clones, the blonde noticed the attacks seemed to lack precision.

After the last clone turned to smoke, Neji faced the real Naruto, prepared to attack at any time. Naruto just smirked, and then started to laugh. "I can't believe it." He shouted. He made more clones and ordered them to attack the enemy. The byakugan wielder, however, passed them, running towards the real one, dodging the clones' attacking him. He prepared to strike him, when he threw two shurikens. That got Naruto off guard, forcing him to jump to his right. That gave Neji the opening. The blow was delivered to his gut.

"Got you." Neji smirked. "You keep using your clones so often that you allowed me to read your attack pattern. Whenever you make them, the real you always stay at the far back. You made it too easy."

* * *

In the audience, Sakura and Ino's spirits fell. Hinata was on the verge of tears, while Kiba seemed ready to punch someone. Guy and Lee were disappointed in the outcome of the fight, while Kuromaru and Yamamoto seemed unhappy. Shikamaru and Shino didn't show any expression, Choji dropped his bag of ships, allowing some to fall out of his mouth and Anko was ready to kill. They all hoped Naruto would win.

A certain brown haired Hyuga in his early 40's hardened his look, eying the situation. He knew that Neji could easily beat the Uzumaki, but he wasn't expecting this. He looked at his younger daughter, seeing her expression of amazement.

The Hokage was also disappointed in the fight. He heard so much from the boy, all his big talks that he believed the child would win. Meanwhile, he ended up with a blow that would put him in a coma for a few days.

* * *

But this fight wasn't over yet. The blonde puffed, revealing to be a log with paper bombs. Neji was so shocked he barely managed to jump away. Still, the explosion's small shockwave got him dizzy. So when he thought he would have landed, he was actually caught by the neck by a certain small blonde. It sure surprised everyone to see such shrimp holding a taller person with one hand at such ease.

"Your little byakugan is not so all seeing as you claim it to be, oh dale lama of jerks." Naruto said, raising the Hyuga even higher. "I noticed that when you were fighting me one-on-one, your attacks were clearly precise, aiming for my chakra points. But, you haven't noticed my clone coming from behind until the last second. Then again, when you focused on your surrounding, your blows seemed off. My guess is your byakugan sees in two different ways. A 'precision vision' and a 'wide field vision'. Luckily for me, that last attack made you focused on the surrounding, thus making easier for me to fool you."

Neji was angered. How could this loser, this nobody, learn all that in such a short time? Even a top shinobi would need far more than that to see through this. Could Hinata have told him?

* * *

Out of all people, surprised with the blonde's analytical ability and perception, Hiashi was far beyond that. He has never met anyone who would see the mechanism of byakugan this soon. And yet this brat, this demon container did it within the six minutes. For reasons unknown to his daughter, he actually smiled. This boy was just as sharp as his father. He could clearly see **his** silhouette in the blonde's place, while picturing himself in Neji's place. '_…just like him._' He thought.

* * *

Naruto threw Neji away and had his clones attack him. They all leaped towards him. Neji managed to get up. He looked around and found he had no choice. He had to use it. His ultimate defense.

"I win!" Naruto cheered.

"Not yet." Neji barked back. The air around him began to wave. Then, some chakra appeared around the Hyuga, swirling around him and finally making a dome of pure air. The clones got all destroyed as they flew backwards. "Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation!" as the dome disappeared Neji had that arrogant smile on his face again. "You really thought it was over? This is my ultimate defense. This fight has only just begun!"

Hiashi was speechless. That jutsu… How could a branch family member know how to perform it? The Eight Trigram palm Rotation, or simply Rotation, was a high level defense-purpose jutsu, Taught only within the main family. Its mechanism was quite tricky, as it required releasing chakra from all chakra point in the same time, while rotating the body at high speed. As chakra was mixing with the air, the dome protecting the user seemed more effective, completing the shield and allowing the user to lose less chakra. He had to admit it. This boy the very incarnation of Hyuga's might.

Naruto stepped back a little, not believing what just happened. He was so confident he won only to find his strategy fail. He growled. What would it take to take this guy down? He could use one of these and… No. This wasn't the right time. The blonde didn't feel secure about using one, while the other wasn't suitable for the moment. Then what to do?

His train of thoughts was stopped when he noticed Neji throwing two kunais at him. That wasn't going to be easy after all. The Fox container dodged the projectiles and jumped away, in the direction of the bushes. As he was on his way there, Neji appeared next to him, ready to deliver a knee to his side. But the blonde managed to block the attack. And in frustration of the Hyuga's tactic, Uzumaki kid grabbed the blocked leg and threw his opponent to the other side of the arena. Neji landed safely and eyed the looser, mad with his failed attack. Then he noticed the blonde threw a few shurikens at him, forcing him to use the Rotation. The jutsu was dispelled when its user saw two kunais coming from above. He jumped away safely. Then he dashed towards the nearest tree. But he stopped when, with his byakugan, he saw two clones incoming from the right and back left. The Hyuga protégé stopped in his tracks and used the rotation again, sending the fakes away. His jutsu didn't stop however, as he found three kunais flying at him. Two of them would have hit him if it wasn't for this jutsu. One was aimed for his gut, the other for the head. But the third jutsu would have passed him from above. Was the blonde's aim that bad? He cancelled his jutsu and took his stance, before pulling out a kunai and tying a paper bomb to it. He threw it at Naruto, forcing the blonde to jump to his left, as the byakugan wielder wanted. As Naruto landed, another paper bombed kunai hit the ground behind him, sending the knucklehead flying. He hit the ground hard. He fought to get up, feeling dizzy, every bone in his body aching, failing to see his opponent incoming. He was almost on his feet when Neji delivered a strike-kick-strike-knee-drop kick combo on him. Neji felt some satisfaction upon seeing the blonde's face hit the dirt first. There was no doubt that this was his victory.

Or so he thought.

To his surprise, to everyone's surprise, it was another shadow clone. As Neji looked around, using his genetic ability, he was already forced to use the Rotation again, deflecting the projectiles. But wait. What's this? They were stones? Neji quickly looked up in realization, finding the blonde dropping on him, ready to deliver a punch strike.

"Your Rotation is impressive, I'll give you that!" Naruto shouted, "But the very top of your dome will work in my favor if I attack like this!" Neji's eyes widened. Now he understood the opponent's attack with the use of kunais. He was searching for a weak spot. And, indeed, if one was to attack from the top of the dome, the attack would gain additional spin, increasing the offensive power upon penetrating the 'ultimate defense'. But no one has ever before tried that, as far as he could tell.

There was a big boom along with a huge cloud of dust. Everyone was amazed with the attack. But the question was- did he hit him? Was it over? Upon the fall of the cloud they had their answer. And what they saw shook them.

There was a log under the blonde's fist. And Naruto even knew how it was possible. Just before he reached the dome, he noticed the dome weakening, most likely being dispelled. Naruto hoped he'll get the destiny-obsessed Hyuga in time. But alas, he didn't. Naruto looked around the crater he made, but didn't find his enemy.

Until it was too late that is.

"You're within my field." Neji's voice came from behind. Naruto turned in surprise, only to get the feeling as if time suddenly slowed down around him. Neji changed his stance a little, while imagining three ring, one within another, surrounding a yin-yang symbol. He could see the blonde within the inner ring, the closest to the centre. His eyes hardened. "Eight Trigrams Palm 64 Strikes!" He called and proceeded to hit the Uzumaki powerhouse. "2 strikes!" He called, hitting the blonde in the shoulders. "4 strikes! 8 strikes! 16 strikes!" he hit Naruto across the torso. "32 strikes! 64 strikes!" He delivered the final blow to the middle of the chest, sending the blonde backwards. The blonde fought to keep his balance. But even though he didn't fall, Naruto could tell his power left him. He could felt like he was going to collapse anytime now. He raised his head while breathing hardly to face the arrogant jerk. He could see Neji's smile. It was driving him mad. "Do you see now?" Neji said. "You were never destined to beat me. You're just a loser like Hinata. You should have given up."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto asked. "And why's that? Just what is it with you? What is your problem with Hinata? What has she done to you that you tried to kill her?" he couldn't hide his anger.

Neji closed his eyes, deactivating his byakugan. His memories returned to the days his hatred for the main family started. He explained everything to Naruto.

It all started on Hinata's 3rd birthday. On that very day, two things happened that changed Neji's live. One was Neji's marking with the Caged Bird Seal! A symbol of the branch family's inescapable fate. The other was the arriving of Cloud diplomats in order to settle the alliance treaty after years of constant fights. But, as all inhabitants of the Leaf Village attended to the event, the Hyuga clan was attending to Hinata's birthday. Her father, Hiashi, and Neji's father, Hizashi, we born twins. But it was Hiashi who was made main family member as he was born first, while Hizashi, as the younger twin, was made branch family, carving the Caged Bird Seal on his forehead. The seal would seem to part the branch family from the main family, as the cattle of one farmer from the cattle of the other farmer's. But it was also a special defense mechanism. It would apply an unbearable pain upon its activation. But there was more to it than that. It would destroy the byakugan, should the Hyuga's body be taken by the enemy, thus protect the clan's secrets. The branch family existed, basically, to protect the main family.

On that day, it happened. Hinata was almost kidnapped by someone. Hiashi, of course, stopped the culprit and killed him, only to discover it was the Cloud's diplomat who just signed the treaty. Of course, it was just an excuse to steal the byakugan. Still, despise the Cloud Village being the criminal here it was Leaf that was accused of breaking the alliance. It almost came to war, until it happened. In order to secure piece between the villages, the Cloud demanded the corpse of Hyuga Hiashi. Of course, if that were to happen, the Hyuga's advanced genetic ability would have fallen into unwanted hands. So, it was Hizashi's corpse that was handed over.

"So there you have it." Neji said, untying his forehead protector, revealing the reversed swastika-like seal on his forehead. "This is the destiny of the Hyuga clan. The curse of the branch clan. My father was Hiashi's twin, yet he died in his place, only because he was born a minute later. Fate has decided that! The fate from which only death can release us!" That shocked everyone. To hear about the clan's sickening secrets like that, to know the clan's head sacrificed his very own brother without remorse… No wonder Neji was so hostile towards the main family.

Neji's grin became twisted. It was like looking at the amused psychopath before he ripped your head off. "And this fight is no different. You were destined to lose since I was announced your opponent."

Naruto didn't look at him at all. He was trying to stay conscience. But it was so hard. But he wouldn't give into his weakness. "You're sickening." He said, confusing the Hyuga. "I don't know what's it like to loose your father and I won't pretend I do, but to claim it to be destiny is a huge mistake."

Neji tied his forehead protector back on. This brat was annoying him. He should deal with him now. "You're annoying." He said as he launched at the blonde, delivering the final blow. Naruto was flying backwards, seemingly lifeless.

"Referee. It's over." Neji said, as he was about to make his leave.

But the sound of feet stopped him. Neji turned to see the blonde still standing, having some blood rushing out of his mouth. "I… won't… fall…" the blonde said with a weak voice. "I don't *cough*… run… away." His opponent mockingly smiled.

"I heard that one before." He said.

"I refuse… to fall… to *cough* a coward… like…you*cough. A coward… that complains *cough* a…bout… destiny…"

Neji's eyes glared at the blonde. "You're just a loser. You have no right to be lecturing me." He dashed forward, towards Naruto, and started to deliver a series of blows. The sight of it was painful even to the audience. "We are all born with burden of destiny we can not fight with!" he roared. "You don't know what it's like to be born with a burden that's marked by pain! A mark that you can't be rid of! Just like Hinata, YOU'RE NOTHING BUT TRASH THAT KNOWS NOT WHEN YOU'RE DELUSINAL!"

Neji kept hitting, seemingly driven insane by anger. There was even more blood rushing from the blonde's body, soaking the bandages and clothes. Then the sound of beating stopped. It caught everyone surprised.

"W-what happened?" Sakura was the first to break the sudden silence. "Is Naruto down already?"

"I don't know." Ino answered. "I think… huh?"

"W-what happened?" Hinata asked. As she looked down, she gasped.

"No way." Kiba joined in. Even Guy and Lee were surprised.

Down in the arena, Neji was shocked. He was sure it's over. He thought he knew it's over. He delivered a number of blows that would, otherwise, killed anyone. But this brat, this one, stubborn, thick skulled brat, caught his hand. His shock turned into amusement when he felt the blonde's attempt to crush it. He could feel the blonde's grip tightening, but it was just too weak to do anything.

'_It's no good'_ Naruto thought, as he felt he was getting no where. '_I can't do anything in my current state. I was saving this for Sasuke, but guess I have no other choice._' He allowed his eyes to close.

"You're hilarious." Neji mocked the Fox container, "You're pathetically weak without your chakra. As I blocked your chakra points, all 64 of them, you suddenly became the opposite of what you were at the start. A real, half-assed loser. In the end, you and Hinata share the same fate."

Neji kept smiling, not threatened by the blonde. Now he posed absolutely no more threat than an ant. He could relax as he kept watching the blonde's futile attempt to crush his hand. Then he saw Naruto's mouth reveal all his teeth in anger.

"What did you just say?" were the blonde's words. Neji didn't blink. He knew he didn't. Or maybe he did. Naruto was so close, their forehead protectors pressing against each other, blue eyes looking into the white ones. Neji could say that Naruto was furious. "You telling me that she and I deserve to suffer more than we already did? That you're the only one who suffered in this world?" The Hyuga could feel the blonde's grip stop, until… "QUIT TALKING SOME SELFCENTRED BULL!" Naruto easily crashed Neji's hand, as if it was made of paper, causing the Hyuga to scream in agony. Neji wanted to jump back, but Naruto head-butted him, sending him across the field. "You're the one who's ignorant! If any of the two of us does know what it's like to be burdened with the irremovable mark, it's me, since I was born with it, having to suffer the darkness of loneliness and rejection, only to now suffer the subhuman complex when I learned what that burden was. **(A.N. / I made it up for this fic.)** So do me a favor and, if you want to talk about inescapable fate, at least find someone who's not as hypocritical as you are, oh Hyuga bodyguard who attempted to kill his mistress!"

Neji stood up, rubbing his hand. He didn't expect this sudden change in the blonde before him. He didn't even expect to hear him say something like that. That boy suffer something horrible as well, but kept fighting. Could this be the real destiny? A fight to determine whether his view point on destiny was real? No, he could have doubts now. He wouldn't fall before this nobody. He would win. It was his destiny to win.

Then he sensed something strange about Naruto's chakra. It was increasing. He released his chakra? How could that be? He blocked all his chakra points. Yet he was gathering it. When he saw Naruto's eyes, he saw his right eye being different. It was red, slit, filled with power. "You draw power from your suffering?" Naruto asked, and then roared, "Here's… MINE!" There was an explosion of red light.

**To be continued…**

* * *

**A.N. / **To be honest with you people, I like Neji-Naruto fight. There was something in it. I hope this one was somewhat entertaining. Next time, ''.

**Narupedia:**

**The subhuman complex**- a mental state in which one believes him/herself to be something inferior to a human being, often considering oneself more as an animal to be killed, unlike the inferiority complex, when someone considers being simply worse than others. It also burdens the person with certain insecurity.


	29. Chapter 28 The finals part 4

**Chapter 28**

**The finals- part 4- ****Naruto's two inner strengths**

Naruto focused on gathering his chakra. He started to slowly glow red, as his body was slowly being covered with veins. Neji took his stance seeing this. He has already underestimated his opponent. He wouldn't do the same again. He watched as the stones around the blonde started to levitate, some even break into dust. The ground beneath him was cracking, as the fox container now looked as if he was going to explode. His right eye turned red, filled with power. Neji took a step back, uncertain of what to expect.

* * *

The audience was confused. They couldn't tell what was going on. This child was about to fall, but suddenly he turned the tables around. Some of the shinobi had their suspicions, but wouldn't say anything. Especially the genins were wondering what was happening. This was too weird to ignore.

"Yo!" A call came. Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Choji, Guy and Lee turned around to find Kakashi walking their way. "Sorry I'm late, but I got lost on the road of life." He excused himself. "Anything interesting happening?"

Everyone just pointed down on the arena. Kakashi, confused, looked in the pointed direction and saw a glowing red Naruto. This sure got him speechless.

"Where's Sasuke?" Sakura asked once she shook off her surprise.

"On his way." Kakashi answered, not taking his eye off the blonde.

* * *

"You draw power from your suffering?" Naruto growled his question out, as he was about to explode. He prepared himself to unleash something. "Here's… MINE!" as he roared, there was a huge blast of flames. Neji shielded himself, only to find it to be chakra. As Neji was struggling not to get knocked down by the strong shockwave, he activated his byakugan. He saw the blonde in a spire of red chakra, releasing electrical discharge. The blonde's vest was even more ragged, his wounds healed and it seemed like that new chakra was feeding his muscles. Neji focused his eyes on the chakra itself, wondering what it was. He could not believe a chakra could do this. But as he focused his eyes, he saw the canine demon. It terrified him.

Naruto continued to release his chakra and after a few more seconds it split into nine, swirling tails, which then wrapped around the blonde's body. As the energy sank into his skin, Naruto inhaled its remains, along with some fresh air, and then exhaled, as the shadows on his body turned to red flames. Even his stripes started to glow red. He opened his eyes as his body was no longer in the deformed shape. His eyes still different from one another. He looked at his hands, as if something strange happened. After curling his hands into fists and relaxing them a few times, he looked up at Neji and smiled.

"Something wrong, Neji?" Naruto asked him, making him mad. "I thought you said I was destined to lose with you. But, if I were to really lose to you, don't you think I would've fallen by now?"

Neji could sensed the mockery in his voice. That blonde was down for the taken. Yet not only did he make his left hand useless, he also unleashed some strange, inhuman power. He wondered how the brat could suffer the complex when he had such ridiculous power. Or maybe it was because he had such power. No matter. Neji would not lose this fight.

His thoughts stopped when Naruto disappeared and reappeared from one place to another. The Hyuga was lucky to have fast reflexes, as he managed to dodge his attack. He pulled out a kunai in hope to hit his opponent the minute he'll reappear. As he got the chance when the blonde appeared above him, Neji threw his weapon, only to see the blonde vanish just as the kunai was about to hit him. Everyone's eyes widened at the sight. Neji didn't even have to face the blonde to know he was dashing towards him. His speed increased to the level he moved in a blur. The Hyuga had no idea how long would he last like that. He needed a way to fight back. But how do you fight with someone who turned from a worm into a raging beast? But he couldn't really think about that at the moment, as the blonde was about to kick him. Neji jumped above his kick and kicked him back, visibly forcing him to make a step back. At the same time, he flew a distance away from the blonde. After all, he needed to think.

But Naruto wouldn't give him the chance. He disappeared from the audience sight, reappearing behind Neji. But wait. There was another one to his left… and two more to the right. Was he really fast enough to create clones while he moved? Neji looked carefully with his byakugan. He couldn't allow himself for a single mistake. This brat just became too dangerous right now. He observed them all carefully, ready for anything they throw at him. And indeed they did throw something at him. Namely four kunai followed by three shuriken each. Neji used Rotation to deflect them back. Two Narutos got hit and dispersed, while the other two vanished. Neji's glare hardened. Then he substituted himself with a log as the two were about to hit. He hid himself in the nearest tree, trying to collect his thoughts.

'_Damn it._' He cursed, '_I thought I had him. But now he's much faster than before. To make it worse, he can regenerate at the faster rate. Is it because of this chakra? Or is it chakra at all?_'

His train of thoughts stopped when he noticed the blonde leap his way. The young Hyuga immediately jumped out of his way. But as the blonde followed him, the byakugan wielder was left with no chose. The two engaged in taijutsu. But since Neji couldn't use his left hand, he tried to elbow his opponent whenever he thought he found the chance. Unfortunately, the blonde was easily blocking his attacks. At one point, Neji tried to hit Naruto in the face. But the blonde evaded the attack and rolled along the Hyuga's arm, stopping behind him. Naruto caught him by the collar of his shirt and threw him into the arena's wall. Neji managed to land on his feet, attaching to the wall, though it was quite painful. As if he jumped off a great high. He felled that if the blonde put more strength into the throw, his legs would've been broken. He looked up to find Naruto already attacking him. Neji barely avoided the kunai that Uzumaki held. But to his surprise, there was a deep cut on his shoulder. But it couldn't be possible. The blade didn't even touch him. Neji wondered how could that happen and failed to block a kick to his side. But before Neji hit the tree in his path, he substituted himself with a log again. Naruto turned to find the Hyuga standing on the far side of the battlefield, breathing heavily and holding his side in pain. There was some blood coming from his mouth. Neji just couldn't believe how much the situation change.

"What happened, Neji?" Naruto asked, with a serious tone, which Neji rather took for a mocking one. "I thought you said fate made you victorious ever since you became my opponent. You said that I won't be able to touch you." Naruto looked at Neji, relaxing just a little, still ready to attack him. "Tell me this then. If I were to lose, would I even get this far fighting you? You really still believe it's your destiny to win, when I clearly got the upper hand? It may have been your destiny to win at the beginning. But as you can see, I was strong enough to change it. Destiny means nothing if you have the will to fight it."

Neji's eyes seemed to go blank for a moment. The power to actually change destiny. Was this brat really the individual existing beyond its power? But only gods and demons had that kind of strength. Still…

* * *

"Well that was unexpected." Kakashi commented. "I hoped Naruto would gain the advantage in his fight, but I never expected him to actually get hardcore."

'_N-Naruto. Y-you're d-doing it…_' Hinata thought with a blush on her smiling face.

"For a traumatized ninja who would normally fall in a fight like this, Naruto really deserves to be called 'Leaf's Most Unpredictable Ninja'." Sakura commented. "Right, Ino?" She turned to her friend, to find her slightly blushing, which got the pink-haired kunoichi confused. "Umm… Ino? Are… you alright?"

"Sorry. It's just that… Naruto's all hot now." Ino said. Then she realized what she had said and shook her head. "What am I saying?"

Kakashi chuckled at that. Then he caught in the corner of his eye Tenten, who had a strange look on her face. He could tell by it that this fight was still far from over.

* * *

"You…" Neji growled it through his teeth. His glared kept on hardening, making his byakugan look terrifying. "You think you have won already? You think you managed to change your fate? You think you have the power, just because you managed to injure me? You believe that just because you managed to release your chakra, that I am defeated? DON'T GET SO FULL OF YOURSELF, YOU LOSER!" Neji roared and dashed at the blonde, visibly irrational. "THIS FIGHT IS STILL NOT OVER! I WILL WIN! IT IS MY DESTINY!"

Naruto managed to block the first strike, followed by a horizontal kick to the head. The blonde ducked and wanted to hit the Hyuga, only to discover it was a trap.

"Rotation!" Neji created the dome. The situation was, however, unusual as the upper torso and right arm of the blonde was within it. Everyone, even the Hyuga clan's head, was shocked and at the same time curious as to what would happen. Within the dome, Neji stood still, while everything around him was swirling and deformed. His eyes glared, seeing the blonde wasn't ripped into pieces, but smiled seeing him struggle with the force of this jutsu. Naruto struggled to reach the brown-haired genin before him, but he found it extremely hard even with his power boost. His hand was moving very, very slowly, inch by inch, towards Neji's smiling face. The blonde hated it. That face reminded him of the very same face he was given everyday. The blonde growled and finally let out a battle cry.

But the Hyuga's jutsu proofed to be stronger. Naruto was sent flying. He bounced off the ground a few times before finally hitting the tree. However, the plant didn't stop him. The blonde flew straight through and hit the wall with enough force to make a huge dust cloud and cracks. Everyone winced at the sight and had one thought in mind: that had to hurt. As the cloud fell, the blonde was barely standing, even more injured than before. Some jonins were even wondering how the kid could be standing after that. He shouldn't be alive. Yet this brat was standing. Naruto growled and tried to attack. So he dashed, though not as fast as before. He and Neji were again trading blows, but Neji found it easier to fight him now. Apparently, whatever that strange chakra was, was gone. He pulled out a kunai and stabbed Naruto in the leg, causing the blonde to scream in pain. Then he kicked him back to where he dashed from. Naruto stood up, but knew he wouldn't be able to run for a while. He just wasn't healing fast enough as of right now. His adrenaline level must have dropped. He eyed the destiny-obsessed Hyuga, who, strangely, wasn't moving. He wondered why.

* * *

Tenten's eyes widened. She figured out what was Neji going to do. He was going to use THAT jutsu. But was it really necessary? Did he really find the Uzumaki that threatening?

* * *

Neji reached his right hand high up, as if trying to reach the sky. His fingers joined and straightened. Neji glared at the confused blonde and then smiled. He was going to eradicate him. This jutsu would bring him victory.

"You liked my ultimate defense?" Neji asked mockingly. "Then you will love my ultimate offense!" As he announced that, Naruto saw something happening.

The space around Neji started to deform, as if collapsing into his hand. There was even some kind of glowing smoke appearing. As this continued, a small, glowing orb appeared just above the finger tips and was slowly glowing brighter and brighter. The blonde got the uneasy feeling watching this. He knew he had to move or he would be done for. But his injuries wouldn't allow him to move just yet. He reached for his kunai holder, but he didn't have any. As he reached for the pouch, he had nothing. He was defenseless. He could only hope he would be able to move before Neji's jutsu charged.

* * *

"That jutsu… It can't be!" Hiashi said, clearly terrified. He was sweating madly, as if Neji was about to attack him instead. Hanabi saw this and was very confused.

"Father? What's wrong? What is that jutsu?" she asked. Without looking at her, her father answered with the fearful voice.

"It's one of the Hyuga clan three most powerful, yet forbidden jutsu. It mechanics are to use one's hand as the beacon to gather the environment's natural energy, a kind of nature's chakra you could say. Then, after gathering some, it is immediately compressed and focused in the form of a small spark within the finger tip. Its offensive capabilities are so great that there is virtually no way to defend from it and its speed makes it near impossible to dodge. This jutsu is believed to be so powerful that it cuts the nature itself."

"Is it really that powerful?" Hiashi's youngest daughter asked in disbelief.

"It is, though extremely hard to control, to the point it can kill the user even by the smallest error in performing it. This is why it was made forbidden."

* * *

Neji kept gathering the natural energy. A small whirlwind formed around him as he did that, giving his opponent even greater doubts about his surviving chance. He opened his eyes, as space around him returned to normal. His jutsu was ready.

'_His ready._' Naruto thought with horror on his face. '_And I still can't move. What do I do?_' He saw Neji's expression change. It seemed like anger, but he knew the Hyuga was smiling, expecting inevitable victory.

"You lose! Gentle Fist Ultimate Art: Tao!" Neji shouted, dropping his hand. As he was pointing the blonde, the orb shot towards him in a flash. The blonde put his right arm on his left arm.

'_Must use it!_' was Naruto thought, as before a second past since the shot, there was a massive explosion of blue/greenish flames. The fact there was a shot was mark only by a now rising dust, marking the path of the bullet. If you were to look up in the sky, the cloud that was just above the arena had the cut in it, as long as the distance between the two fighting genins. A strong shockwave followed, which shook the audience itself. The wind was just so strong, even the shinobi had to cover their eyes from dust and stones. This was an insane power. As things calmed down, at long last, every one looked down to see the Hyuga protégé just standing as he was, all covered in dirt and sweat, his byakugan deactivated. This jutsu putted a lot of stress on his body. Luckily, he performed it flawlessly. Other wise he would be dead. He looked into the crater, surrounded by flames and covered by smoke. He had no doubt the blonde was gone. There was just no way he could've survived that. He relaxed and, with the smirk on his face, he turned to the referee.

"Referee! This fight is over." He said. "There is nothing left of that loser. I automatically pass to the next round." He turned and was on his way to the booth. He rubbed his broken hand in pain, thinking about what Uzumaki said earlier about defying fate. '_What an idiot. If that was to be possible, I would've lost by now._'

* * *

Hinata saw the whole thing. She couldn't believe what she saw. Her cousin was ruthless with her, but with Naruto… he killed him. She heard of this jutsu's power. She just couldn't believe Neji disintegrated Naruto. The world started to spin in her head, her chest ached. She was about to collapse. Kiba, who was enraged by the sight, forgot all about it when he saw his teammate about to collapse. As everyone was in disbelieve, Kakashi paled. '_No way. Naruto's… gone… HOW AM I GOING TO FACE HIS FATHER NOW?_' he grabbed his head, in complete shock. What was he going to do now?

Hiashi continued to analyze his nephew in disbelieve of what he has done. '_That jutsu holds enough destructive power to literally erase the human being from existence, not leaving a single trace he was even there. For Neji to use it must mean he's really…_'

Tenten had somewhat similar concern as she watched her teammate making his exit. '_That was harsh, Neji. I never thought you would actually use that jutsu like that. Still, Naruto did push you further than anyone else before._'

"Well… not like I expected him to win, but… killing Naruto was too much." Ino commented in her shock.

"Naruto. Of all the ways to end up…" Sakura whispered, more to herself than her childhood friend. Her eyes were filling with tears.

* * *

"Whoa. That is one, serious kid down there." Temari commented. Kankuro agreed with her.

"Tell me about it. Now I'm happy I didn't had to fight him instead. Otherwise I would've ended up like the blonde." That earned the puppeteer a solid kick to his jewels.

"Don't you dare talk like that about Naruto, you jerk!" Anko threatened. "The minute that guy gets here, I'll kill him myself!"

* * *

Genma eyed the young Hyuga going further and further away. He sighed. He should disqualify him, but what he did wasn't against the rules. He was the one who failed to stop the fight. And it was the Uzumaki kid who paid for his sloppiness. But he still had to do it.

"This fight came to a conclusion!" the toothpick chewing ninja announced. "The winner is Hyuga Ne…!

"Wait!"

Genma halted himself. Neji also stopped and looked at the crater. None of the two believed to hear properly. Even the audience wondered if they heard it right. But they must have misheard themselves. The boy was k…

"I'm not done yet!" the voice continued. That shocked everyone. The blonde was alive! But how? Neji turned and took a defensive stance in absolute fear. He didn't want to believe this.

"H-How… How did you survive Tao? It's impossible! The only two known defenses strong enough to let you survive this jutsu are those of the Hyuga clan! SO HOW DID YOU SURVIVE?" Neji was enraged now. That last jutsu was his absolute attack. No one could have survived it. The only known defenses to block it were Rotation or Tao itself. And since the blonde wasn't the Hyuga, how did he survive?

The smoke started to lift, slowly revealing the figure. In Neji's eyes, before the boy stood a silhouette of an ogre with four horns. But as more smoke lifted, he saw a normal looking kid. Yet what he learned about him now left him as confused as surprised. The blonde, aside from having his clothes even more ragged, missing left sleeve, his favorite jacket and vest, and his bandages torn in a few places, had his birthmark glow yellow now. And his entire left arm was covered in yellow flames of chakra, forming a massive gauntlet with three inhuman faces. The flame was also running from his shoulder-height to behind him, forming a fist-sized orb, from which two smaller ones appeared next to it. Neji activated his byakugan in curiosity as to what was that, only to see the same thing as with the red chakra. Only, instead of the fox of red chakra, he saw a horned humanoid of yellow chakra. Neji quit focusing on the chakra out of pure horror just in time to see the blonde staring at him. He saw his right eye was normal blue. But his left eye was far more different. The sclera was darker, much darker, like phasing from white to grey and then to dark blue. There was no sign of pupil, while the iris turned yellow and seemed to be in the process of dividing into three points. Neji was really confused as to what was the deal the brat. Just what was he?

* * *

Everyone in the stadium was shocked to find the blonde alive. They were so shocked that no one dared to speak. Though Kakashi couldn't stop himself from the thought. '_This jutsu… It can't be. But it is. And this chakra I feel… No doubt about it. It's Raijin's chakra. Naruto, when did you learn to draw upon this power?_'

* * *

Down in the arena, Naruto broke the silence. "Like the three wise monkeys see no evil, hear no evil and say no evil, this jutsu blocks all attacks, parries all attacks and lets no attacks harm me. Your Rotation is your ultimate defense, Neji? Well here is mine! Three Imperial Guards!" The three faces in the 'gauntlet' roared. He took a look at it more carefully. '_Well, this is strange. It used to look different when I worked on it._' He thought, just as one of the faces disappeared.

* * *

Lord Third had no doubt about it now. Just like Kakashi described it in report after Izo incident. This pure yet mighty sensation, the power within the blonde's voice… Naruto was empowered with the thunder god's power. The question was- was he in control?

* * *

Neji growled under his breath. This fight was going on for long enough. He had to finish it. He had enough of Uzumaki's tricks. Then he heard Naruto say something that got him on guard.

"Neji, I think we both had it. Let's finish it. One shall stand, one shall fall." Naruto said, waving his left arm and dashing towards the Hyuga. Neji got ready to engage him, as the blonde's speed didn't increase that much as before. He could beat him in close combat. But as the blonde was about to hit him, his danger sense kicked in. he jumped away just in time to avoid the blonde's punch. The blonde instead hit the ground, making a large crater. Neji got shocked and decided to back away. '_It can't be._' He thought. '_Earlier, while using the red chakra, he was faster. Now with the yellow one his stronger. And apparently more resentful to damage. What's going on here? Is that some kind of genetic ability?_' His thoughts stopped when the blonde charged again. Neji took his stance and, taking advantage of his agility, kept avoiding the blonde's strikes, delivering his own blows, which didn't seem to affect him that much. Neji decided to go for the neck, but the blonde parried him. However, it gave the Hyuga the opening.

"Got you now!" Neji said, taking a familiar stance. "Eight Trigrams Palm 64 Strikes!" he pressed on the blonde, delivering the blows. But Naruto was able to block every one of them with his defensive jutsu. As Neji finished, Naruto backed away, landing near the collapsed tree and watched as the second face disappeared, leaving the last one. Naruto curled his hand into fist, then relaxed and picked up the plant and threw it into Neji. Seeing this, the Hyuga immediately used the Rotation. As expected, the protective dome shredded the tree into toothpicks. Naruto glared at him and charged, ready to hit with his left arm as he spin.

"Hey, Neji! How about we see which defense is THE ultimate one!" Naruto challenged. As he was near the Hyuga protégé, he used the Rotation again. The two chakra jutsu clashed, creating something similar to sparks as the two young ninjas pressed onto each other, neither wanting to forfeit. The power within their clash was so great, everything around them was vibrating. The audience was expecting one of them to give in. But neither wanted to. Finally, they noticed a small ball of energy appear between them, while their jutsu were fading. Finally only that ball was left, spinning wildly, until it exploded, sending the two backwards. While Neji was sent flying, Naruto seemed capable enough to keep to the ground. After things settled down, Neji stood up, a bit shaken.

That was Naruto's chance.

Naruto leaped towards his opponent, ready to crash him into the ground. Neji saw this and smirked.

"You idiot. Coming from that ankle, my Rotation will easily redirect your attack back at you!" he roared, while activating his defense. Naruto only smiled. The Hyuga caught the bait. The blonde hit the ground just before the protégé. There were a few small cracks around Neji and before he knew it, a piece of ground was lifted. With Neji activated, subconsciously, his byakugan and saw another Naruto beneath the ground. As Narutos roared, they finally flipped the ground, apparently crashing the Hyuga. As the new boulders cracked into smaller rocks, Neji dug himself out, breathing heavily.

"Why you…" Neji never had the chance to finish, as the blonde punched him in the face. As they made contact, the knucklehead's stripes started to glow even brighter, accompanied with electric discharges. He roared as he sent Neji flying into the arena's wall. Neji hit it and bounced off. But before he hit the ground, he struggled to stay on his feet. Then he saw the blonde ram him into the concrete was enough force to crack it. The two stayed like that for a couple of seconds, before Naruto finally backed away, allowing the Hyuga to fall to the ground.

"Your Rotation was quite something, Neji." Naruto spoke, getting the barely conscious Hyuga's attention. "However, aside from it rotating only horizontally, I noticed that you are immobilized while it's active. I wasn't too sure about it though, until that last clash we had. And it appears that even after you dispel it, there's still a time gap before you can actually move, unless you're in shape to use Substitution."

Genma mentally whistled at the kid's observation. And noted not to get on his bad side.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kakashi was wondering whether the blonde was actually stupid or just slow and dimwitted.

* * *

"So… you used that… Shadow Clone jutsu when… you saw the opening." Neji commented. "That way… y-you… ensured you'd take… me… down before… I could move. You… used my… defense against me. I… I got careless."

Naruto apparently got irritated with the comment. He picked him up and looked him in the eyes. "You want to know something? Do you want to know why I actually got to beat you? Really?" Neji showed a bit of interest in the topic. "That's because… I wanted to change. This is what Hinata, I and you have all in common. However, I didn't waste my time on crying how terrible the world was and finally won. I became the man strong enough to defy gods, where you were at conflict between revenge and changing your fate. You're supposed to be a genius, yet you let out your frustration on Hinata, who wanted to help her cousin when he needed someone the most. And on the record- I failed the genin exam three times, because I couldn't master a basic Clone Jutsu. That was my WORST jutsu. So don't you talk about destiny. If a loser like me could become strong enough to forge it himself, then why shouldn't you?"

Neji's eyes softened. This blonde… he didn't see Neji himself as an enemy. It was his viewpoint all along. His attitude. He started giving up to his weakness, but still had one question he needed to ask. "I think… you could… have killed me…"

"No." Naruto answered. "Anything but that. Besides, that way I would've end up Hinata even worse than you. She wants you to see as she changes the Hyuga's ways, reunites the family. That's why she needs you to help her become strong enough to do that."

Neji fell asleep. But some reason, he smiled. Naruto putted him down gently. Genma gave him a smile. It would be later on that he learned from his uncle the truth behind his father's death. Death which he chose to protect his clan, despite Hiashi being prepared to die himself.

"The winner is Uzumaki Naruto!" he announced.

The audience cheered.

**To be continued…**

**A.N. /** Finally, the secret of the scroll revealed and Naruto used both his nine-tails form as well as god form. Hope you liked it. See ya next time.


	30. Chapter 29 The finals part 5

**Chapter 29**

**The finals- part 5- The big event**

Naruto put Neji down and backed away. He was exhausted. This fight was tougher than he thought it would be. He was trying to catch his breath when he heard the people cheering. He was surprised to hear that. When he looked up, he saw most of them congratulating him. He wasn't sure how to react. But when he noticed Kakashi, he had even more mixed feelings. Then his sensei gave him a thumb up, clearly congratulating him his success. At first the blonde was shocked. But then he putted that meeting from a month ago aside and started his victory dance.

After a while, the blonde finally made his way to the booth. As he entered the corridor he stopped before the stairs. His head was hanging. He felt terrible for some reason. No, he knew the reason. Kakashi made it to his fight and congratulated him, clearly forgiving his behavior. And Naruto was still mad with him. The Uzumaki may have had his reason to be mad with Kakashi, but it wasn't right. The chance he would get, he would apologies to sensei for his anger. He continued on.

The audience was getting impatient again. They had hoped the Last Uchiha would've shown up by now. The people were whistling, booing, yelling and ready to hit someone. The Hokage had to admit it was bad. This was the most awaited fight and it was still being delayed. But his worries disappeared when the people suddenly started to cheer. Down in the arena, Sasuke actually appeared. He sighed in relief seeing the Last Uchiha finally showing up. He looked down as his opponent, the red-haired child with the gourd also appeared in the arena.

The competitors watched as the two last fighters were eyeing each other, having the chills running down their spines. Sasuke's sharingan flashed, seemingly blazing stronger because of the youngster's black clothing. Gaara just stayed as he was, seemingly not impressed with the opponent's lightshow. He merely closed his eyes and the next think that happened was his sand coming out of his gourd. Genma eyed them both, as if uncertain if it was a good idea to start the fight. But this fight was what everyone was waiting for. Not to mention the exam was about the fight. Genma shook his head and wondered how bad this fight will end.

"The fifth fight, Uchiha Sasuke vs. Gaara of the Dessert!" He called, raising his hand. He looked at the two, seeing it would be safe to get away as soon as he'd give the signal. "Begin!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the brunette dashed, nearly disappearing. Gaara's eyes have widened in surprise. He recognized this move. It was just the same as with Rock Lee during the prelim rounds a month ago. His sand could barely follow the opponent, blocking all the kicks and punches the Uchiha heir would try to deliver. The red head this time stayed focused. He wouldn't let himself get hit. He was so focused on his sand, thus enhancing its speed.

The audience gasped seeing The Last Uchiha's speed. Especially certain two kunoichi. The blonde was blushing so badly that one could see steam coming out her ears, while the pink-haired seemed ready to jump down there and hug the brunette. Kakashi shook his head at the sight, wondering what he should do with that girl. It was as if she wasn't trying to get over her fan-girl stage.

As Sasuke performed his newest jutsu, Chidori, the audience gasped in admiration. Especially after piercing Gaara's shield. The kages watched with even more interest, until…

"Lord Hokage. Lord Kazekage!" Lord Arata addressed the two, getting their attention. "I'm afraid I'm forced to abandon you as of this moment."

Both kages showed some concern and disappointment due to this situation. Especially the Hokage. And he knew this merchant guild head for a long time now. "But, Lord Arata, why do you need to leave now? Don't you find this find entertaining?"

The bandaged man chuckled. "On the contrary, milord. I find it to be most amusing. However, I fear I must attend to the guild business at the moment." The merchant bowed in respect before the two men with the title of shadow and was about to take his leave.

"Are you certain you can't stay for a while longer, Lord Arata?" Kazekage asked, catching his attention. "I'm sure nothing bad will happen 'til the end of this fight."

"As much as I would like to see this fight to the very end, I'm afraid I need to place the good of my guild above all. After all, you can never know if someone's not trying to rob you!" The guild master bowed to the kages and turned to face his sole bodyguard. "We're leaving, Obi."

"Yes, sir!" the clothed man with a belt full of daggers said, joyfully raising his arms in the air and, like a ballet dancer, followed his boss, who slapped him in the head.

"Obi! Behave and walk properly!" Arata scolded him.

"Yes sir. Obi is a good boy." The masked guard answered, crying.

As the merchant and his bodyguard disappeared, the hokage looked at the ANBU hidden behind his seat and nodded, letting him know to follow them. And the masked shinobi did so.

Meanwhile, down at the audience, Sakura seemed to be jumping in a cheerleader style for Sasuke, who seemed to have the upper hand.

"Sasuke! Sasuke! He's our man! We can't do it! But Sasuke can! Yay~~~~~~~~~ SASUKE!" She cheered. As most of the audience was with her, Kakashi seemed a little displeased.

"It's funny how you cheer your teammates, Sakura." The one-eyed jonin commented. "You weren't that cheering during Naruto's fight with Neji."

"Naruto is too unpredictable to cheer for, sensei." Sakura answered. "And Sasuke, on the other hand, is having a fight of a political matter. So it's better to hold all the cheering for him."

The silver-haired jonin mentally shook his head, not knowing what to do with the girl. He was certain she would come out of the fan-girl stage, yet clearly she was still stuck in her own little world. He really needed to find some way to wake her up from that fantasy.

Little did he know that what he needed may have just come. Glowing feathers were falling before his very eyes.

**In the hallway.**

Lord Arata and Obi were calmly walking down the corridors towards the nearest exit. The merchant lord took another look at his bodyguard. The man was of his height, dressed in a brown kosode, black hakama, waraji and a belt with dagger. Additionally, he had some clothing wrapped around his entire head and sunglasses. The guy somehow could be described as serious in appearance. Although, Arata knew him to be a laid-back, slacking, joyful, immature and unintelligent man with little tolerance for hygiene. But for some reason he like him. Maybe because he was the joyful person in the guild. What ever the case, he entrusted Obi with his life.

As they were about to take the final turn to the exit, there was an explosion. The two for a second struggled to keep their balance, which they didn't loose. Before one of them could ask the other what could have happened, they found themselves surrounded by six ninja. As the merchant lord took a closer look at them, he saw them to be much different from the Leaf-ninja. These warriors were dressed dark grey and purple, wearing completely different vests and having not a leaf on their forehead protectors, but a note.

"Who are you?" Lord Arata asked in a serious tone. "And how dare you threaten me, Lord Kiganjo Arata?" he continued, pointing at the blades aimed at him. Of course, none answered. Not like they had to, as the merchant guild master knew these ninja were from the Hidden Sound Village.

As one of the aggressors was about to strike, the ANBU showed up to block the attack. He took a peek at his partner, hidden in the shadows, to see if he was calling for back up. Unluckily, he never caught the chance. He was stabbed in the throat with a kunai. Then the Sound-ninja all focused on the remaining masked shinobi and quickly cut him down. The blood spilled everywhere. The dead body of the ANBU fell lifeless like a rock. The six Sound shinobi turned their attention back to the noble and prepared to attack him. They surrounded him and his bodyguard, smirking and quietly laughing. This was easy prey.

"I don't have time to deal with trash like you! Obi, take care of them!" Arata commanded.

"Yes, sir!" Obi answered, saluting. And whole hell went loose.

The bodyguard started spinning around like a ballet dancer, avoiding every attempted stab. Then, when the tallest of the Sound-nin was about to back away, Obi hit him in the side of the face with an elbow, effortlessly sending the man to the wall. Then the merchant's fighter jumped over to him and, with his knee, crushed his head against the wall and all that while singing. When he found the other five trying to strike at the guild's lord, Obi jumped over, spinning in the air. And thus he effectively sent them back from his boss. When one of the attackers got on his toes, Obi slapped him in the face. Then he repeated it. And again. And again. Then he kicked him in the gut, forcing the shinobi to kneel. After that, he twisted his head, which was followed by a loud crack. The other four quickly got back on their feet. While the three of them tried to assault him, the fourth dashed towards Arata, ready to slash the noble's head off. The Sound-nin attacked, but only cut some of his bandages, revealing some of his face. Apparently enough for him to recognize the face wrapped underneath. His eyes were completely blank, showing nothing but fear.

"Y-you… are…" he never managed to finish the sentence, as Obi stabbed his entire torso with his feather-shaped daggers. As the Sound ninja's lifeless body fell, Obi jumped on top of it, ready to remove his glasses.

"No, Obi!" the command came from Lord Arata, who managed to cover most of his revealed face. "Do not use it here. We don't want to attract any one's attention just yet." His voice seemed to be getting darker, making his bodyguard leave his sunglasses where they were.

"Obi is a good boy. Will obey his lord." Obi said, half crying. Then noticed his master on the move again and obediently followed.

"Patience. You will still have your chance."

"Is this why you're leaving?"

"No. I am simply curious how the events will turn around. Because as the things are now, nothing will be gained."

Obi wondered for a second, but couldn't put two and two together. "I don't get it."

"Simply putting it, the vital pawns to our plans are just not yet ready. They still have a long way to go." Arata explained walking outside the arena, now surrounded by a dozen of guards dressed in similar fashion as Obi. As continued walking, he turned his eye towards the stadium, knowing full well that no matter the result of this attack, he would still make quite a profit here.

**The arena. The Kage box roof.**

Under the normal circumstances any one would be confused. People were just watching the big fight, entertained with the show of power. Then, all of the sudden, some glowing feathers started falling. Some would say it was beautiful, like scenery from a dream, if it wasn't for the fact that everyone started falling asleep. That is everyone except for the shinobi. Most of them, anyway. Then, there was a big explosion of smoke, which covered the entire kage box. If that wasn't enough, then the sudden explosions that came up next, followed by some civilians revealed to be shinobi from Sand and Sound, who were attacking anyone from Leave, was really something to be confused about.

But, of course, the Third Hokage was no normal person. He was an experienced shinobi, knowledgeable. The one called the Professor. The God of Shinobi. He knew all too well what was happening. It was an invasion. The Sand Village allied itself with the Sound against the Leaf, considered the strongest ninja village of them all. And the attack was well planned. The after all, it wasn't hard to get the troops into the village during the Chunin Exams. The question however was 'why'. Why would the Kazekage, the leader of Sand Village, ally with Orochimaru's followers? What did the aged-man's former student promise to the kage of the ninja village in Wind Country?

Lord Third looked at the Kazekage with the corner of his eye, as he was taken hostage by the Sand leader and his four body guards. "What is the meaning of this, Kazekage?" he asked. "Why have you violated our treaty?"

"'Why' you ask?" the man dressed in white-and-blue robes replied, snickering. "Isn't it obvious? Because I can."

"But this is pointless. Attacking just because you have the power is a madman's act."

"Now is that really anyway to address people, Sarutobi… sssensssei?"

Hiruzen's eyes widened at the last word. He knew this speech pattern. And he hoped not to ever meet this person in the situation like this. But it seems fate planned this long before. As the kazekage reached for his face, Hiruzen watched in horror to see that pale-face man he once trained.

Orochimaru stood before him, with his all too well known sadistic smile. The serpent-like man released the old man, knowing he would just attack. "It hass been a long time, Ssarutobi-ssensssei." He said calmly.

"Not long enough, apparentely." Third replied, trying to stay calm. "You've finally lost it and decided to just wipe out the Hidden Leaf Village. Why? Why now?"

"Becausse thisss 'peacce' we live in is sssso boring. The world, right now, iss like a wheel that doesssn't turn, while it ssssshould. It'ss a wassste." The paled-skinned man answered in a very, very sad tone, as if regretting something from the bottom of his heart. Sarutobi got a little surprised, though not enough to let his guard down. And he was clearly right when he saw Orochimaru's face smiling. "Ssso, I am the force that will sset that wheel in mottion. The war will be ssssso entertaining. Finally, life will return. The ssshinobi will have their purposse clear. Blood will ssseparate the weak from the sstrong."

"You are truly insane, Orochimaru. What you want is just a massacre!" Sarutobi half yelled, causing Orochimaru just to laugh.

"And what'ss wrong with that? Are warsss nothing more that massacresss for pointless quarrelssss? What differencce iss there in thiss war, thossse that were and even thosse that are yet to come?"

"No matter whether the difference or not, war was, is will always be an evil!"

"An evil to which humanss will alwaysss be blind to, jussstifying it as necesssary."

Sarutobi found this conversation pointless. No matter what, Orochimaru would not cease this attack. He threw a kunai at his former student, who just jumped upwards, thus giving his 'bodyguards' the signal to back away. The serpent-like man made a hand seal, ready to attack.

"Ninja Art: Stealth Snake Strike!" he called and from his sleeves a few snakes shot out towards the hokage, who jumped out of the way just in time. As the leader of Sound was about to land, Sarutobi made a few hand seals himself.

"Earth Style: Clay Trap Mud Jutsu!" he slammed his hand to the ground. Orochimaru's eyes widened, for as he landed, he got stuck. He struggled to get out, but the more he tried, the more the he was being restrained by the mud, that was already reaching his elbows. The fallen student of Hiruzen's watched in horror as his sensei completed another set of hand seals. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he called and shot a big fireball that hit the target. The old kage watched stoically as the enemy burned, screaming in agony. But as the fire died down, he looked around, ready for combat. "Come out, Orochimaru! You don't really think I'll believe you're down already, do you?"

The old man wasn't disappointed, though he did not really expect his former student to come out from behind the burned trap. He didn't have enough speed or time to react to the ninja's attack. Orochimaru could finish this fight right here and now.

Or so he though. Suddenly, a flower petal flew right before his eyes. As the villain recognized the jutsu, he quickly disappeared, just in time to avoid the attack. The only thing that suffered was the kage robes that were now shreds. The pale man appeared at the edge of the roof, dressed in a white-and-black kimono shirt with a tomoe-like design the collar and sleeves, black baggy pants, purple robe-like belt tied in a large knot behind his back. He also had two shinobi pouches, one on each side of his waist, black shinobi boots and a kunai holder on each thigh. He smirked while turning his attention towards the new attacker who was none other than Fukiko. The girl landed near the hokage, ready to engage her former sensei, not even trying to hide her bloodlust.

"My, little Fukiko. That wasss a little rude of you. Can't you ssee Sarutobi-ssensssei and I have a little fun of our own?" Orochimaru asked sarcastically. His former student merely growled.

"I'm going to finish this once and for all, you bastard!" she cried, making a set of hand seals. "Ninja Art: Garden of the Afterlife Jutsu!" she called and hundreds of flower petals were send flying towards the serpent man, who at first whistled, somewhat impressed. But he the jutsu came in close, he easily dodged it. When he thought he was clear, he saw the jutsu follow him. He kept dodging the attack, smiling at how this jutsu was clearly pathetic, until… "Water Style: Water Bullet Jutsu!" the Mitarashi called and shot five projectiles from her mouth, aiming at him. Orochimaru Managed to avoid the jutsu, of course. But little did he know that this was exactly what she hoped for. As soon as he saw the look on her face, Orochimaru figured he must have landed on paper bombs. She detonated them, but Orochimaru managed to jump off of them just in time. Unluckily, he was now in midair, surrounded by the flower jutsu, which formed a sphere around him and quickly shrunk. There was only the sound of shredding to be heard. Fukiko smiled for a second there, seeing some blood dripping from the sphere. But as the jutsu dispelled, her face showed nothing less than horror. What she hit was a mud clone. She wanted to look around…

"Fukiko! Behind you!" Hiruzen called. But it was too late. Orochimaru stabbed her in the heart from behind with a kunai. As blood was dripping from her mouth, she turned around to see her accursed sensei smiling while licking his lips.

"Congratulationsss, Fukiko." He said. "At least you ended up impresssing me." As he removed his kunai from her, Orochimaru hissed like a huge serpent and kicked her in the back, sending her falling of the roof to the arena ground. He quickly turned towards Third, letting him know not to move. "Sssound Four!" he called his followers. "Make ssure no body elssse getss to interrupt ussss!"

"Yes, master!" all four answered. They all took position at the corner of the roof and formed a purple barrier, isolating the roof from the outside world.

"Orochimaru, you're going to pay for what you did here." Sarutobi growled, taking off his kage robes, revealing his shinobi getup. Orochimaru just smiled.

"Sso you're acttually going to take thiss fight sseriouss? Then I'll have to usse thisss." Orochimaru hid his kunai back to his holder and made a few hand seals, finished by a clap. Third's eyes widened in horror. He recognized this jutsu. But he didn't want to believe that his former student actually managed to learn it. "Ssummoning: Reanimatttion!"

**Arena level**

Anko watched in horror. Yes, she was awake. She dispelled the genjutsu before she fell asleep. She couldn't grasp the situation at first, but when she saw everyone fight, she quickly grasped what was happening. Despite the confusion, she could tell it was best to find her teammates, her sensei and organize. Then she saw Kuromaru-sensei leave the arena, and soon after that Naruto and Sakura did the same, though they were moving after the Sand siblings and the Uchiha. She wanted to help, when her body ached. After a while something caught her attention. She turned to see someone fighting on the roof of the kage box. When she could tell who the people there were, she screamed in horror as she saw her cousin falling to the ground. As she jumped down to the ground, with tears filling her eyes, Fukiko's body hit the ground hard. Anko wanted to believe this to be a genjutsu, or a substitution. But the sad reality was that Fukiko was dead. Anko shouted, until she was hit in the head by a stone and knocked out cold. But despite that, she didn't stop crying.

**To be continued…**

* * *

**A/N.** Well finally, a new chapter. Hope you enjoy it. Next time, the team of badasses enters the stage. See ya soon.


	31. Chapter 30 The Shinobi Enforcers

**Chapter 30**

**The Shinobi Enforcers of the Burning Leaf**

The fight has merely started, and yet it felt like hours have past. Many buildings were set on fire or grumbled. There were some dead civilians lying around, butchered by invading shinobi. Some of the Leaf ninja were trying to hold the enemy back while the civilians were evacuating, but the attack was well organized. The screams, the explosions, the blood, and the sound of shredded flesh… this was a massacre. The smell of death was everywhere. Despair was reaching anyone who would pass the toss of dead bodies. The only ones smiling were the ones responsible for this. Yes, the Sand and Sound ninja were taking joy in destroying this village. They felt no remorse. They showed no mercy.

Now they were following the group of evacuated villagers, lead by Iruka. The chunin knew they were being followed, but he didn't want to risk the good-being of people in the fight. The enemy outnumbered him. His only hope was that the other two groups have already reached the shelter and the shinobi of this village were on their way. After all, this was, hopefully, the last group.

The man must've been lucky, as someone did stop the chase. He looked up to find some ANBU and a few special jonin engage the enemy. He saluted them and continued to run. The fight behind him was a loud one. Sparks flying everywhere. The elements crashing. Still, despite the Leaf's efforts, the enemy had the advantage in numbers and, as it appeared, was still better organized.

Little did they know that four pairs of eyes were watching the clash from the shadows.

"Look at that." A female voice commented. "What a fight."

"Hn. I've seen better." A male voice answered.

"We haven't seen anything like that since the Nine-tails." A deep male voice followed.

"Well then, it just means we're going to have some fun for ourselves."

"Don't get cocky with me, you maniac. This fight will be more entertaining only because we lost one of our members thirteen years ago."

"It is sad, indeed." A stern voice said. "And he was the best of us."

"Well enough crying around, ladies!" The deep voice half yelled. "We've got a village to save!" Everyone nodded in agreement and jumped out towards the battlefield.

On the battlefield, many Leaf-nins were still standing, though they were at their limits. They were doing their best to fight the enemy out of their home, but it wasn't enough. Now they were facing the giant, three-headed serpent, that was fortunately engaged by Jiraiya and his summon. But still, that wasn't enough. The attacking shinobi were smiling in full satisfaction, ready to strike the tired and wounded opposition. But before they could charge, a curtain of white flames blocked their path. Everyone looked up to the rooftops. There they saw four figures. The figures were Niigetsu Yamamoto, Hyuga Hiashi, Hidodama and Nekokage Kuromaru. While the others looked serious, the bald ninja was smiling sadistically.

"Now that's just rude." Yamamoto said. "You started fighting without us. I hope you left the strongest for us."

"If these people wish to destroy our home so badly, than let's see if they're ready to fight the elite." Hiashi commented.

"Enough empty talk. Let's fight!" the feline giant enthusiastically said as he jumped down, cutting in half the Sound ninja before him. As the dead body fell, the bald man charged at the next one. The other three decided to join the fight as well. Surprisingly, despite the greater number of the invaders, it didn't seem to matter to the four.

"Who the hell are these guys." One of Orochimaru's followers asked in shock, seeing as his comrades were being easily cut down.

"I recognize them." The Sand-nin next to him answered. Their Shinobi Enforcers of the Burning Leaf."

"The Enforcers what?"

"You heard of the Shinobi Swordsmen of the Bloody Mist, right?" he received a nod. "Well, these guys are similar. The group of exceptional shinobi. And these guys are not just some skilled geniuses. Their best of the elite. Every member is worth more then a team of jonin. Free shots, yet they answer before the hokage alone. In other words… WE'RE GONNA DIE! OH SWEET KAMI! WE'RE SO GOING TO DIE NOW!"

And just how right he was.

Hyuga Hiashi, surrounded by the group, stayed all calm. The enemy ninja stayed still, waiting for the right moment to strike. Then again, why wait. This was only one man surrounded by a dozen. They could just take him down. So they charged, jumped at him, not even realizing how foolish that was. When they got closer, the head of the Hyuga clan used his Rotation to stop them in their place and used the clan's taijutsu style to take them down. All that and he wasn't even scratched. That was exactly the reason why he was titled The Untouchable Noble of the Leaf.

The other Sand and Sound shinobi had no better luck. They're opponent, after he jumped off the roof, sunk into the nearest shadow like into the lake. They were searching for him only until they found him striking from the shadows. Despite knowing where he would strike from, the problem was still from WHERE he would strike, as there were many shades for him to strike from. The green-haired man was just jumping out from them, slashing the enemy and disappearing into another one before anyone could figure out the situation. And if he couldn't strike, Yamamoto used the shadows as the weapon itself, impaling them, cutting or sinking them. That's he was known as The Shadow Master of the Leaf.

A group of five Sound-ninja formed a circle with two Sand-nins. They weren't exactly sure what was going on all of the sudden, until something hit them. It was a fireball. But not just an ordinary fireball but a human sized one. And when it hit them, six bodies flew away, burned almost to the bone. When the fire, and then the smoke, was gone, the last remaining of the group found his legs crisped. He looked with fear in his eyes on the person who was that fireball. It was a woman- Hidodama, known as the Dragon of the Leaf. As she was about to grab the enemy shinobi by his throat, she noticed, at the last moment, the incoming group. So she just inhaled some air and blew white flames at them, burning most of the group. While the others managed to reach her, she surprised them with her monkey-like agility and movements, effectively blocking and dodging their punches. And to their horror, she was easily taking them down.

But all the horror was most likely at were Kuromaru was fighting. The reason for which he was named the Brute of the Leaf was because of his fighting style. He was brutally slashing his enemies with his claw-blades. Sometimes he would grab some random shinobi by their heads, performing the infamous 'Death of the Thousand Lifetimes Jutsu', which pretty much meant crushing their skulls to the point, where they became vegetables. Other times, the bald giant grabbed the enemy and used them as a weapon, swinging them like a sword or a hammer. All that while laughing. He was the most psychopathic of the group.

While the four were fighting the enemy army, the chunins completed the evacuation of civilians. At the very same time, the ANBU and remaining shinobi, who were yet to join the battle, arrived. And it was surprising for both Sound and Sand to find the Leaf so well prepared for this kind of scenario. Usually, the invaded village would be falling by now. The battle just lasted for so long now it just seemed unreal when the real counter attack came. And it was a real deal. The invaders were about to call a retreat, when the lieutenants reorganized the units. The fight was still far from over.

* * *

Ibiki called his team to fold back just in time as the giant three-headed serpent hit the three-floored building. The team had a hard time, since the beast was huge and they didn't really had any particular jutsu to deal with it. They needed a plan fast. Little did they know that a certain white-hair hermit was watching over.

"Bring Down the House Jutsu!" he called and summoned a blue-and-green toad, that fell on the reptile. As the huge cloud of dust, caused by that drop, cleared, the interrogation specialist was shocked upon seeing Jiraiya. The middle-aged man just gave him the smiling and returned to the fight.

* * *

Blood and more blood. The air was already red of it as the Shadow Master continued slashing more enemies. The man stabbed the Sand ninja in their guts and before the others could reach him, he just vanished into the nearest shadow. Then he attacked again. He kept fighting like that for nearly an hour now, until something happened. Yamamoto was about to strike another Sound ninja, a chain wrapped around his blade, stopping the Niigetsu Clan leader. The man turned around to see what was happening, to see it was the Sound lieutenant who caught him. Despite the enemy officer wearing an ANBU-like mask, one could tell that he, or rather she was smiling. The woman pulled the chain harder, almost ripping the sword out of the Enforcer's hand. Yamamoto tightened his grip as to not loose his weapon, but forfeited the fight upon seeing the group of hostile shinobi dashing towards him. He quickly pulled out two kunai and engaged the group. He tried to dive into the shadows again, but the masked kunoichi successfully stopped him. She tried to hit him with her chain, forcing the green-haired man to jump away in the nick of time. As Yamamoto landed on the roof, he had to block the two attacking shinobi, leaving himself wide open for the lieutenant's attack. He closed his eyes, while the whip-like weapon was getting close. She smiled, certain she would kill him.

But what she saw next shocked her. The chain was cut. But how? Yamamoto was occupied. He couldn't have done this by himself. Could he? There was a loud gasp when she finally realized what happened. It was his shadow that blocked the attack. It just seemed to move on its own and blocked the shadow of the weapon itself, thus stopping the weapon itself. The lieutenant's eyes widened under her mask, seeing how the enemy didn't have to move a muscle to fight her.

"Hidden Shadow Assassin Strike Jutsu!" Niigetsu Clan head called loud enough for every one to hear. To the horror of the two ninja who were by his sides, their shadows seemed to move on their own and stabbed them. The green-haired man in his early 40s raised his eyes to look at the kunoichi, giving her the look that said something terrible is about to be unleashed. And how right that was. "Now, my lovely, little flower, you will learn why I am called the SHADOW MASTER of the Leaf." He said in a cold, threatening manner. She was about to back away, ready to run. But it was too late when he made a hand seal and roared. "Hidden Shadow Impaler Signature Jutsu!" Before he even finished the last word, all the shadows around turned into spikes, stabbing or impaling the shinobi of Sand and Sound. The lieutenant herself was terrified seeing all this. This Leaf-nin, this ONE man, killed all of these men with a single jutsu. It was beyond comprehension. How could he possess such power? Then she felt something cold pressed against her throat. She looked with a corner of her eye to see Yamamoto behind her, pressing his retrieved sword against her flesh. Judging by the look in his eyes, there was no talking a way out of this. Before she could say or do anything, there was a stream of blood already running onto the wall. And it was like a geyser. Seemingly endless. It continued even when the kunoichi fell to her knees. And when her dead body finally hit the ground, the Shadow Master of the Leaf just turned his back to the pile of dead enemies and made his way to where ever the enemy was.

* * *

Hyuga Hiashi was always a strict man. Even in appearance. Always pushing his body the limits to ensure he would never fall in battle. And even now, all that work proved worth it. As the enemy shinobi dashed at him, he easily countered them, not getting even his clothes cut. He looked around to see if there were anymore waiting to jump at him. And as he found none, he focused his byakugan in search of other group that needed to be dealt with immediately. When he found a group heading towards the shelter, the Hyuga head made haste. He ran as fast as he could, jump onto the roof tops and bouncing off of them, until he finally reached them. But he didn't just jump down on them. That would be too rash. He followed them for a while, observing them, trying to determine something. After a few more minutes, Hiashi decided to make his presence known to the group. But as he landed before the five Sound ninja, lead by a single Sand shinobi, he saw something disturbing. They were smiling. That wasn't right. Could it be they were this confident in their abilities? No, that wasn't it. Hiashi knew what was really happening. It was a trap. But how were they going to attack him? The byakugan didn't detect anything that would indicate there was a trap.

That's when he realized it. He jumped away just in time to avoid a fire jutsu from underneath him. A few seconds later, a tall, skinny man in a blank mask came out of the hole. A lieutenant. The man snapped his fingers, and the group behind him dashed at the Hyuga. Hiashi eyed them carefully, not wanting to make a mistake. Then he saw the masked man make a hand seal… And there was a big explosion. The heat and the shockwave tore the shinobi group apart, leaving some stain on the mysterious man. He chuckled certain he killed the Leaf noble. He stood in place for a while before turning his back to the spot of the explosion. He made his way to the shelter, wanting to kill the civilians, not expecting any interruptions. The man would have his fun hearing all the men, women and children screaming in pain, begging for mercy and crying for help.

Or so he thought. He felt something. A presence to be exact. But before he could turn around, he received a total of 64 strikes. The man struggled to keep his balance, when the fatal blow came to his neck. As he was falling, the lieutenant managed, somehow, to turn to see the face of the one who killed him. The face of none other than Hyuga Hiashi, whom he thought to have killed. How the noble survived was beyond his last seconds of thinking. But Hiashi did not care about telling him of this. He had a village, the pride and his clan to protect. He activated his byakugan yet again and after a while he made his way back to battle.

* * *

White flames to the left. White flame to the right. A kick to the face. A punch in the gut. This was merely the short and simple version of what was happening. Hidodama simply kept fighting. There were some bruises on her, that's true, but she just refused to give in. she was a tough one. The toughest kunoichi in the Leaf. Everyone admired that in her. She hit another Sand-nin in the face, and then she made a seal and roared: "Fire Style: Fire Dragon Missile Jutsu!" And she spitted a dragon-shaped fireball of white flames at the team of five enemy ninja. She hit them. The woman smiled a little, but not for long. She knew that a moment of satisfaction could mean dropping her guard. When the Dragon of the Leaf turned around, she saw the enemy surrounding her. She looked around, seeing the circle around her was quite tight. They have organized a brilliant strategy. There was no way she and the two chunin who accompanied her would manage to break through. Before anything could happen, a masked, fat guy showed up, laughing arrogantly.

"My, my, what do we have here?" the lieutenant said in a mocking tone. "A pretty little monkey flower and two chunin. How pitiful that they are a no match for my plans. Kill them." He clapped, walking away, simply not interested in the Leaf shinobi death. As the Sand and Sound ninja dashed at them, the two chunin ducked when they saw Hidodama taking a deep breath.

"Fire Style: Dragon Arts: Fire Wall Jutsu!" She yelled and blew out a flame so huge, so magnificent it was an actual wall of white fire, dashing in one direction. The screams of dying soldiers got the attention of the Lieutenant just in time to avoid the jutsu in the last second. As he felt safe, he saw his men falling easily by the breath of the woman. She was using fire jutsu without a single hand seal. The fatso wouldn't have it. He ran through a few hand seals himself and called.

"Wind Style: Air Bullet!" and blew a bullet of highly pressured air towards her. Unluckily for him, Hidodama noticed it and called a jutsu of her own. Now she would show herself worthy of the title.

"Fire Style: Dragon Arts: Dragon Breath Jutsu!" she blew an incredibly high pressured flame towards the lieutenant, sounding like a true dragon. Her jutsu easily overwhelmed the enemy's attack, since 'wind style' was weak to 'fire style'. And to the horror of the fat guy, the flame was coming in such speed, he didn't manage to move. His body ignited in flames, turning into ashes within mere seconds.

* * *

Another head flew upwards. But unlike dozens others, this one was caught by the decapitator, who immediately threw it at the Sand ninja, knocking him back at the crowd behind him. Afterwards, well, Kuromaru just grabbed another Sound-nin by the throat and started using him like a mace, hitting the other enemy troops. Then his arm, no, both his arms, were caught by the enemy. One Sand ninja decided to take this opportunity and kill this psycho before he did something insane to them. He was ready to stab him with his kunai when the bald ninja caught him by the throat with his teeth. The giant took a good bite and swing the man, striking the other terrified Sand and Sound jonin. Then he managed to free his arms and didn't hesitate to use them and killed the guys who were stupid enough to do that. He kept hitting and fighting the enemy, until the throat of his prey shredded. He just spitted out the flesh left in his mouth and returned to battle.

But then, he was stabbed. The dark skinned man looked to his left, to see a muscular man in the mask. Another lieutenant of the hostile army showed himself. This one was holding a katana in one hand, while wielding an axe in another. Kuromaru managed to remove the blade from his side and attacked his foe. The man proved skilled enough to keep up with the bald giant's speed and strength, parrying and blocking the claws. When the Team 12 leader caught the lieutenant by both his arms, he was attacked by the other ninja, stabbed in the back. He groaned a little and, having little to no choice, released the masked weapon master to knock away the other guys. He jumped away just in time to avoid an axe. Nekokage took this guy too lightly. Fine then. This would be a fight of weapon masters. So he pulled out a scroll and unsealed it, summoning a couple of sai daggers. At first, he swirled them, and soon he attacked. The spectators were at awe, seeing how even the fight of the two was. That changed quickly when two Sound ninja decided to dash at the Leaf ninja. Kuromaru was aware of their incoming and cut them down as soon as they were in reach. This, however, cost him both weapons when the lieutenant cut him in the back.

But the Brute of the Leaf merely reached for another scroll and unsealed two naginata, surprising everyone how easily he could wield two two-handed weapons. Kuromaru kept spinning his weapons as well as swinging them, sometimes cutting both his new-found rival and the incoming troops. It was unbelievable how he could easily fight like this. However, when the Sound weapon master ran through a sequence of hand seals and casted an 'earth style' jutsu, Kuromaru, having to avoid the attack and thus dropping his guard, quickly became an easy prey for another attack.

The pool of blood was under his feet. His breath heavier. The enemy chuckled at the sight of an easy prey. They were closing in while the lieutenant waved his weapons in joy. The head of the bald Leaf ninja would be his marvelous trophy.

Then something happened. The mood changed. No one could tell what happened. Perhaps the Leaf's weapon master went crazy. He must have… why else would he start laughing like mad. He just gave the masked man a look as his smile widened. "Excellent…" he said, forming a 'ram' hand seal. "Finally a challenge. It's been so damn long since I had a proper fight." He placed his hands on his bracelets, which then flashed for a second, and made a sound similar to an opening lock. "I don't like using THIS due to my condition, but I think I can use it in these circumstances." Kuromaru finally raised both his arms and with one good wave he shook off the bracelets, knocking a few enemy shinobi out. But some Leaf ninja, who were ready to assist the sensei of Team 12, had a look of terror in their eyes.

"Oh crap." One of them said. "He did not just…"

"I'm afraid he did" a woman said.

"He's going to use IT!" the third Leaf ninja said, sweating like mad.

"NEKOKAGE KUROMARU IS GOING TO USE HIS GENETIC ABILITY!" the girl in the group screamed.

"EVERY LEAF NINJA FOR HIMSELF!"

This did not go unnoticed by the Sound and Sand troops, who saw every ninja of the Leaf running as far away as possible. If you wonder why, the answer would be Nekokage Kuromaru, who made a strange, unknown hand seal, with a smile of pure insanity on his lips.

"Night Hunter!" he whispered. And like a nightmare, his chakra spike, twisting his body in a way unimaginable. His body was still visibly muscular. But now he was more slender, like a cat. His nails turned into razor sharp claws, which would easily cut through flesh like butter. His teeth became fangs, which could shred flesh with no trouble at all. The ears and eyes became more animalistic, and his skin turned pitch black. Additionally, a long tail grew out. Everyone looked in horror at this man, or rather, a humanoid monster. Kuromaru just eyed them, enjoying their reaction, before he roared. It was not a roar any human could make. It was a roar of an actual animal. One Sand ninja decided to strike now before this thing could make a move. A poor choice of actions. As he was about to stab the Leaf fighter, he disappeared, leaving nothing more than a thin trail of 'black smoke', as it is best to describe, in place, following to the cat-man's current position, right behind the poor fool. There were no more moves, obviously. And yet, this Sand ninja lost his head just now. Everyone backed away in fear, while Kuromaru chuckled in boredom. He made a few hand seals and used a summoning jutsu. In a puff of smoke, a small black cat with golden eyes appeared. She looked at the summoner and spoke with a woman's voice.

"Well now, aren't you going a little over board, Kuro-boy." She asked in a sweet, joking or mocking tone.

"This is no time for jokes, Yoruichi. Go and gather my team. They should know what to do when I'm having fun." He said in a happy manner. Yoruichi nodded and made her way up to the roof tops and disappeared. Kuromaru looked at his enemies with greater smile. "Now then, ladies, let's have some fun. Kenpachi!" He roared, and soon his both arms were covered in the 'black smoke'. The jonin then dashed at the troops and easily was cutting them down with just waving his hands. In a few seconds, only he and the lieutenant were left on this battlefield. The masked man was trembling. Hack, he even made a step backwards.

"Is that it?" Kuromaru asked angrily, stopping the Sound-nin in his tracks. "We're having fun here, and you're running away just because it's you and me? You pathetic piece of meat! I'm going break YOUR NECK FOR YOUR IDIOTISM!" Kuromaru ran through another sequence of hand seals. "Tiger Strike!" he whispered. And before the masked Sound shinobi could react, the cat-like jonin appeared behind him with his hand running through his torso. The lieutenant was shocked. And yeah, dying. But before he could do so, Kuromaru grabbed his head in his deformed hand and ripped it off. Afterwards, he removed his arm from the now-dead body and turned his attention to his left, finding a group of enemy ninja watching the whole fight in fear. Before anyone of them could move, Kuromaru thrw the head at them and dashed after it, wanting even more fight.

* * *

The fight in the village continued for hours. And during this whole time, Naruto and Sakura joined up with Sasuke just in time to save him from Gaara, who turned half his body into a monstrous form. While the Uchiha was too weak to fight, and Sakura was caught hostage, Naruto had to do all the fight, within which he found his reason to fight for- his friends. The blonde gained the advantage, breaking through Gaara's sand armor. That did force him into releasing the monster within him, the Shukaku, but Naruto, with the help of Chief Toad, still managed to beat him and, as it would seem, change him, which surprised the other sand siblings, especially when their youngest brother apologized to them for his behavior.

The Hokage himself had a harder time. First, he had to fight the first two hokage, his mentors, who were brought back from the dead by his former student, Orochimaru. The fight was just so hard, Lord Third had little to no choice but to use the Death Consuming Seal Jutsu, which is said to have sealed the Nine-Tails 13 years ago. While he did manage to defeat Lord First and Lord Second, he didn't have enough strength to use it on Orochimaru. So the least he could do was taking the traitors arms. As the old man's body fell lifeless, Orochimaru ordered a retreat, finding this battle to be a failure. The victory was Leaf's, but at what price. The village mourned the Third's death for a week.

Yet the wind was to bring a great change to their lives.

**End**

**Omake**

(Dedicated to the certain group of penguins)

The Enforcers were having a party at night. The smell of alcohol in the air was so strong that should anyone enter this room, would definitely faint. Yet, these guys didn't mind it.

"Ha! Brings back good old memories, doesn't it?" Hiashi asked.

"What memories?" Yamamoto asked, slightly confused.

"I guess the No-Fun-Hyuga is talking about our grand party many years ago." Hidodama answered. "Back then the Yellow Flash and the Red Devil Pepper were still with us."

"Ah yes. I remember now!" Yamamoto answered. "You just recently joined our ranks, Hidodama, and Kuromaru was still a candidate enforcer.

"Yeah. I still remember that one plan of ours…" Hidodama said, remembering that night just about 14 years ago.

**Flashback**

_The five figures were standing before a big scroll of sealing. One of them, a blonde in an ANBU-like mask was reading the sealing on the piece of paper, trying some hand seals, while the others were watching over him._

"_Eyes on the ball, dude." Young Yamamoto said, while Hiashi focused more on his byakugan to see if the coast is clear. "Once we break this seal, we'll have more rice cakes then we can eat."_

"_Rice cakes! Yeah!" a masked woman with ankle-long red hair cheered, licking her lips, unable to resist the incoming taste. However there was a problem._

"_I'm trying my best, but this is the most complex sealing I've ever seen." The blonde said, scratching his head. "It's a damn Sudoku with quantum equations!" he cursed._

"_Have you tried the masterseal?" Hiashi asked. The blonde listened to the suggestion and formed a 'ram' seal. But nothing happened._

"_Try the reverse sealing version." Hidodama asked. But the result was the same._

"_Okay, try then the seali…" Yamamoto wanted to advise, when…_

"_RICE CAKES!" the red-headed woman couldn't stand it. Her hair was standing up as she screamed. She quickly grabbed a statue of the Third and started hammering the scroll. After a few seconds of constant slamming, there was a puff of smoke, and a key appeared._

"_Whoa! We have the key!" the blonde said in full surprise._

"_Way to break the seal, girl!" Yamamoto complimented her. But their happiness ended the very moment the blonde picked up the key. The lights turned on and the five were surrounded by ANBU squad and Lord Third._

"_What is happening here?" Sarutobi asked._

"_We've been compromised! Everyone!" Hiashi half yelled, tossing a smoke bomb. In this confusion, the young Enforcers made their way out of the tower, leaving the key behind._

"_That's it!" Hiruzen looked out the window, yelling in fury, "No favorite dishes for you for a month, you delinquents!"_

**End flashback**

The four laughed at the memory. Those were good old times.

"To the good friends!" Kuromaru proposed. "May the memory of them overcome the sorrow of their lost." And they drank. Then…

"You four!" An ANBU captain entered with a squad. "You broke into the warehouse full of alcohol again!"

"We've been discovered! You know the drill!" Yamamoto said loudly. There was a big puff of black smoke and the four Enforcers were running from the ANBU, laughing all night.

**Omake end**

* * *

**A/N.:** I won't be going through the 'Search for Tsunade' arc. The next chapter will fill in on what took place, but it basically stays as in the manga.


	32. Chapter 31 Fast forward

**Chapter 31**

**Fast forward**

It has been more than a month by now since the invasion on the Hidden Leaf Village. The village itself was still in the process of rebuilding itself, but it wasn't so bad now. The people didn't actually pay any attention to the last necessary repairs. The loss of all these people on that day, of course, still burdened them. The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was amongst those dead men and women. A painful loss. Yet they had to go on. They knew their deceased kage wouldn't want them mourning for him everyday. No. He would want them to keep smiling, enjoying every new day ahead of them. And so they did. They kept smiling, laughing and cheering. The Leaf Village was strong and WILL remain strong.

Kakashi laid in the hospital bed, looking out the window at his home village. He was still in no condition to move. All because of what happened two days after the Leaf was attacked by Sound and Sand. Someone came to this village. And that wasn't just anyone. They were two people. One of them was Hoshigaki Kisame, a former member of the Shinobi Swordsmen of the Bloody Mist. A shark-like giant with blue skin, sadistic, hungry for combat, the wielder of the terrifying blade Samehada, that rather shreds flesh instead of cutting it. The man wanted for the murder of the Water Country's Daimyo.

But that wasn't the man Hatake and the other two jonin, Asuma and Kurenai, who were the welcoming company, were concerned about. It was his partner. It was the genius of geniuses. The man who was an ANBU captain at the age of 14. The man who single handily murdered his entire clan. It was Uchiha Itachi. The boy grew up nicely, though his eyes still showed no sign of any emotions. And should Kakashi not show up in time, no doubt his comrades would've died. But even with his intervention, Itachi managed to fight them with no greater trouble. It was then that Kakashi was caught in Itachi's most terrifying jutsu- Tsukuyomi. In reality a mere second past. Yet for the silver-haired jonin it was 72 hours of endless stabbing. When the jutsu finally ended, Kakashi was in such a bad shape he could barely stand on his own. Luckily Itachi ordered a retreat, which was good for the Leaf ninja considering how strong he was. Still, no one felt really relieved. This man and his blue-skinned partner were after someone- Naruto. It was weeks later that everyone finally relaxed seeing the blonde return. But the fact that Itachi appeared after all these years had some people wonder what was happening.

Even the silver-haired jonin was wondering that question. And he knew that a certain other Uchiha was not happy about it. This reminded him to see him as soon as possible. Because when it comes to his older brother, Sasuke becomes ballistic. If Kakashi fails to act now, his student will get himself killed.

* * *

Naruto was sitting before the door to the hokage office, waiting to be called in. he wondered what this was about. This month was a crazy one. And to think it all started so promising…

Naruto was at the Ichiraku's, ready to order his favorite, when Jiraiya appeared out of nowhere. The blonde heard him talk about his mission to find some woman who was 'selected' as new hokage and how the old pervert wanted him to accompany him, but the Fox-container refused to listen. All he wanted was to eat his ramen and go train. Besides, why should he travel with the pervy sage looking for someone he didn't even know? So when the Toad Sage promised to train him during their journey, Naruto was more than willing to go.

On their way they stopped in the first town that came in their path. Jiraiya had some meeting to attend to, so he left Naruto in their room at the hotel they booked in. after an hour of boring meditation, the blonde heard a knocking to the door. The young Uzumaki was certain it was the idiotic novelist-wanna-be until he opened the door. As he opened them, he found two men in black robes standing before him. While the taller, blue-skinned one was a complete stranger to him, there was something familiar to Naruto about the other one. As he took a closer look, he noticed the Sharingan eyes. They were similar to Sasuke's, yet different, complete. That's when he putted the two and two together- this was Sasuke's brother.

Itachi requested Naruto to come out of the room, and as he was cooperative at first, Naruto stomped the floor hard enough to make it collapse, making the two fall. Kisame pulled out of the rubble first and faced up to eye to darn brat who did this to them, only to get the door flat his face. The shark-like guy wondered for a second how the brat knew not to trust them. As he and his shorter partner got up and jumped into the room, they found the blonde to be gone.

The Fox-container was running down the street, looking for Jiraiya, who was obviously nowhere in sight. As he was ready to take a turn left, he pumped into someone. To his surprise it was Itachi. Naruto wanted to run the other way, but was stopped by the Uchiha's partner. Having no where to run, Naruto was ready to fight them, when he heard Sasuke call. His arrogant teammate demanded his brother's attention, only to hear him claim that he was more focused on his organization's, the Akatsuki's, business. Despite that, Sasuke attacked, only to be brutally beaten and mentally fractured by his brother. Before the rogue Uchiha could do anything else, something forced him to let go of his little brother and move back. He did so just in time to avoid a kunai. Soon Kisame followed. As the two were surprised, Naruto managed to find the one to assist him and his teammate. He could see clearly, but it wasn't Jiraiya for sure. What he saw was a masked person with long, red hair. As that person disappeared, Itachi and Kisame had to jump away again. This time it was Jiraiya who attacked them. The two stated that it would be better to retreat for now and so they did. A few minutes later, Jiraiya summoned a toad to send Sasuke to Leaf. On the other day, he and Naruto returned to searching for this new hokage- the woman named Tsunade. During their travel, Jiraiya started to teach Naruto one of the Fourth Hokage's strongest jutsu he himself developed- the rasengan. As expected, it was extremely hard.

It's been a few days later until the two finally reached the bigger town. It was only by pure chance that they ran into a busty woman in the tavern, who happened to be the very one they were searching for. Though Tsunade was Jiraiya's former teammate, she appeared much younger than him- in her twenty's to be exact. This was later revealed to be her personal genjutsu, but that wasn't the point of this meeting.

As Tsunade learned of the situation in the village, she refused the position of the hokage, spitting on it like filth. That annoyed Naruto badly enough to have a fight with her. As they were outside, the woman laughed at the pathetic situation where she, one of the Legendary Three, was to fight a lowly genin. After all, what could a fresh-out-of-the-academy shinobi do to a far more experienced kunoichi like her? Despite being a little drunk, she was still certain to win… using one finger. So imagine the surprise when the boy's fist clashed with her index finger. The sudden shockwave that pushed both back from one another impressed them, Jiraiya and Shizune, Tsunade's assistant, student and 'family'. The a-bit-drunk woman managed to pull herself together, not wanting to believe what that brat just did. So this time she was going to use her fist instead. The two blondes clashed again, fist-to-fist. Despite Naruto being the one send flying, Tsunade was pushed further away, putting some effort to keep her balance. This was something that somewhat impressed her. She could tell the boy shouldn't have the chakra control, or even supply, to enhance his strength to this decree. So how could he be this strong? That train of thoughts stopped when she saw the kid performing the rasengan. She knew the Fourth's jutsu all too well to let the shrimp use it against her. So she stomped, making a big crack. As Naruto tripped, his jutsu hit the ground. After the smoke cleared, it was certain that he still hasn't mastered it. Then, not only did she belittle him, Tsunade also insulted him as a shinobi. That provoked the bet between the two. If Naruto could master the Rasengan in 5 days, she would come with them, take the position as the hokage and even give him her precious possession- the memento of her grandfather, the First Hokage- her crystal necklace. But, if Naruto was to lose, he would have to give up being a ninja.

Even to this day, the memory annoyed the blonde.

As Naruto was in his second day of training, Shizune came to visit him. The brunette wanted Naruto to cancel the bet, as she told him the reason behind Tsunade's attitude towards the title. It just happens that the blonde woman used to have a younger brother, who dreamed to become a hokage, only to die during the Second Shinobi War. Few years later, she met a man named Dan, whom she fell in love with. Dan reminded her of her little brother, as the man wished to become hokage. But as the Third Shinobi War started, he died before her eyes, despite her best effort to heal him. Naruto felt sorry for the healer, but he wasn't going to quit.

As the day arrived, Naruto was all bandaged and somewhat fatigued. But as he woke up, he heard Jiraiya talking to someone, Shizune to be exact. She confessed that the other teammate of hers, Orochimaru, came to see her one day before them, requesting to heal his arms. In return he would revive her lost loved ones. She had six days to think about it. As they ran to the spot where Tsunade was to meet with the serpent-like man, they saw her already fighting Kabuto, Orochimaru's right arm as the blonde learned. As the healer seemed to have the advantage at first, the silver-haired boy stabbed himself, spilling some blood on her. As Tsunade proofed to have the fear of blood, she was stunned. Luckily, Jiraiya, Shizune and Naruto entered before anything could happen. As the Pervy Sage engaged Orochimaru, Kabuto was engaged by Shizune and Naruto. However, Kabuto proofed to be more skilled than the two. But there was something in the fight that disturbed Naruto.

Flashback

_Shizune fell after a strong blow from Kabuto. She lost her consciousness at a bad time since she was to protect her master and aunt-figure. It was up to Naruto to get the job done, which wasn't going to be easy, since he suffered a number of injuries himself. The silver-haired teen attacked again, cutting Naruto up his torso, making it another wound that started to heal at a fast rate. While it was impressive how fast he was regenerating, how it seemed to accelerate, it proved of little use. Yakushi just kept attacking again and again. After he tried to cut out one of the blonde's eyes, Naruto managed to full him with a Shadow Clone. The puff of smoke had blinded the four-eyes for a second, making an opening for an attack. But Kabuto was no full. As someone said to be Kakashi's equal, Kabuto sensed the approaching attack from the right. He jumped away just in time to avoid the electric whip. He smiled at the weak attack, until he saw the brat perform a new jutsu, the rasengan. The blonde charged, confident it'll work. Despite the pain in his whole body, despite the heavy feeling, Naruto just charged, ready to hit the enemy. He could clearly feel the air current of the swirling chakra orb, certain of its power. He was just an inch away, his attack could hit him._

_But it failed. Kabuto easily parried the blonde's hand, making him hit the boulder. An explosion stunned him, allowing Kabuto to hit him in a specific spot. When Naruto wondered for a bit he noticed his wounds starting to heal slower and slower, as well as his body getting heavier. That's when it hit him. Kabuto suppressed his adrenaline, which indeed was enhancing some of the blonde's feats. He glared at his opponent, while the mentioned delivered another blow with his covered-in-chakra hand, cutting him. Right now, Naruto was covered in so many wounds, so much blood. It was a wonder how he could still be standing. He just glared at Orochimaru's follower._

"_I am not… going… to fall…!" Naruto managed to speak, spitting some blood from his mouth in the process. "I will not… fail…!" Naruto stood his ground. He could still hear how Kabuto belittle him, comparing his animal, little thought tactics and skill to Sasuke's natural talent. He couldn't stand it. Even after what he went through during the Chunin Exam, Everyone looked down at him. "I… will… become… a legend!"_

_Kabuto pulled out a kunai and charged at the blonde, who was standing in his favor, right before Tsunade. "Your just throwing away your life, you fool!" Kabuto said, dashing towards his targets. "Your dreams don't come true when you're dead!" he shouted, ready to strike._

"_GET OUT OF THE WAY, NARUTO! NOW!" Tsunade pleaded. Tears started to fall from her eyes._

_Time seemed to slow down for the Uzumaki. He could see the incoming kunai. He could barely hear the blonde woman behind her. His body wouldn't respond. He failed to master the Rasengan, the Fourth's second pride amongst his jutsu. Everyone kept belittling him. Is this how's he going to die? In battle, having proved nothing? Was he destined to lose from the start? Was he to FAIL? His eyes started to close, as the kunai was inches away from his heart. He would fail. But he wanted to fight._

_He had to fight._

_HE MUST FIGHT!_

_The sound of metal hitting flesh echoed through the field. It even got the two fighting men's attention. The one with white looked to the source of the sound with fear, while the pale-skinned one looked with the satisfied smile. It was obvious that the Fox-container met his demise. The difference in skill between the two youngsters was in Kabuto's favor after all. Tsunade trembled even more at the sight before her. Another soul lost before her eyes. She felt her heart breaking again. Naruto was dead._

_Or so it seemed._

"_You really are an idiot, Idiot." Someone said. The voice got everyone raise their guard. When they searched for the owner of the voice, they noticed a strange look on Kabuto's face. One not even Orochimaru expected to ever see. The boy was shocked. The voice was Naruto's. "You still have all this power left in you, yet allow this loser to beat you up so badly." That got every to notice now that there was something different about Naruto now. His voice was darker, malicious, hateful, and stronger. As if it was a different person. Another fact was that it was holding Kabuto's kunai half by the edge, while holding the four-eye's hand. "Remember when I told you we're destined to have this dance until the end? Well, unfortunately, if one of us stops it, the other will be pulled down along. And we can't have that, now can we?"_

_Kabuto was eyeing the blonde, wondering what his game was now. Something felt off. Even the boy's stance seemed to change. "What the hell? Who do you think I am to buy this trick, Naruto?"_

_Naruto stayed quite for a few seconds, before finally chuckling, and then laughing. He slowly raised his head, revealing a maniacal smile and red eyes. "You? Your just a pest!" the darker Naruto half shouted, delivering a devastating knee to Yakushi's gut. Before anything, the blonde caught his head and hit it to the nearest boulder. Then he pulled it back and hit it again, laughing even more. After that, he threw Kabuto like a sack of potatoes away. This display of brutality shocked the Legendary Three. Even Orochimaru got concerned about the situation._

"_You idiot! This fight should've been over hours ago if you were to actually think about killing this Kakashi-level wanna-be instead of protecting this old bat! Why even protect her. She spits on the hokage's name… and at the same time she disrespects the memory of Iwaki and Dan or whatever the names were for those losers!" the now-psychotic blonde laughed, jumping towards the silver-haired Sound-nin, ready to hit him again, not noticing that his words, that what he said about Tsunade's lost little brother and lover, actually made her realize how she indeed show disrespect for something the two wished to accomplish._

_But her train of thoughts stopped when there was a strong boom. She watched as Naruto and Kabuto were exchanging blows. And what she saw was a fight on a whole different level. Before, Naruto was rather throwing his punches, hoping to hit his opponent, with little planning if at all. And now, he was not only taking the initiative, his attacks were planned, well-aimed, accurate. But the other thing was that this Naruto, this Dark Naruto, was willing to kill. No, correction, he WANTED to kill. And he cared little for the damage he was taking, since his body was again healing at the accelerated rate. When Kabuto tried to suppress his adrenaline again, the blonde just took his distance. And before the Yakushi could follow, he saw paper bombs under his feet. The silver-haired boy tried to jump back, only to avoid death, but not the burns and cuts. Yet after he hit the ground, another paper bomb appeared right next to him, throwing hit to his left._

"_Ha hahaha haaaaaa!" Naruto was laughing, enjoying his enemy's position as much as possible, and earning himself the look from him. "Idiot. This loser is not even half as good as Kakashi. If he was, we would've been dead at the very start of this comedy! And the reason you fail to perform the rasengan properly is because of this insane chakra supply in this body. There just so much chakra here, that learning its proper control is most likely beyond years!" the Dark Naruto made a recognizable 'cross' seal, creating a Shadow Clone. While the original showed his hand, the clone started to manipulate chakra, over time creating a sphere of wild, swirling chakra. "Now this is how you make up for it!" After a few seconds, the clone disappeared, while the dark blonde dashed at Kabuto. As Orochimaru's right hand stood up, a second passed before he was hit with a jutsu. Kabuto could clearly feel the power. It was beyond description. Like a wind tearing your flesh in all possible directions, while smashing them and flying through it. It was painful, driving you almost insane. Finally, it through him back. He was spinning him like made and sending into the nearest boulder, creating a huge crater. The big cloud of smoke made it impossible to see what happened to Kabuto, though there was no doubt it wasn't anything good. Without a doubt, the kid performed a perfect rasengan._

_The dust finally fell, revealing Kabuto in a very bad shape, fighting for his breath. He raised his head, wanting to see the blonde, who was calmly walking towards hi, smiling psychotically. This annoyed him. How could he do this kind of damage to him? This… LOSER?_

"_You have only yourself to blame for getting this badly beaten up, you loser." Naruto arrogantly said, picking up a piece of boulder that looked good enough to stab Kabuto with. "But it actually doesn't really matter. The fact stays: you lose, YOU DIE, LOSER!" Naruto was about to throw the improvised kunai, aiming at the Sound-nin's head. But he never let go of the stone. His head suddenly felt heavy. Why was it? No way, the other one fought for control. Naruto ended up trashing around like mad, switching the color of his voice from dark to warm and vice-versa. And one point he had one eye blue and the other red. Then the eyes turned to the stone in his hand. He caught it with both hands and was ready to stab himself, only to stop this insanity. And things went dark._

End flashback.

It was later when Naruto learn of what happened. Tsunade managed to pull herself together and stop the brat from committing suicide. And as soon as she saved his life, she helped Jiraiya fight Orochimaru, forcing him to retreat.

But the greatest success was… that she decided to accept the kage hat.

And now, after a few days of her hard work, the blonde was here, wondering what was all this about. Before he realized, he was summoned. He entered the room, looking at the busty blonde behind the desk. The tall woman turned her attention to the nervous blonde, with an upset, yet serious look in her eyes.

"Uzumaki Naruto, I have the results of the Chunin Exams." She started. The boy's eyes widened. So that's why she summoned him. On the inside, he was somewhat smiling, while still ready for the opposite. "And I am sorry to say… you failed."

"WHAT?" the blonde yelled. "How come? I beat Neji, didn't I? Isn't a 'loser' like me beating a genius like the Hyuga proof enough that I'm ready to be a chunin?"

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but no. I've watched your match on the tape and I must agree with the judges. While your attacks were precise and you showed extreme perception and adaptation, you were still dashing without tactics. You only won your fight because you managed to beat Neji in a fight of pure strength, endurance and stamina. But to be a chunin, you failed to show you can actually outsmart your opponent." She explained. And it pained her really. She knew the council just didn't want him to get the promotion. They feared him as the demon that would grow too strong. But, unfortunately, while these results were only part true, they were good enough to keep him a genin.

Tsunade saw the sad face on the blonde. He must have felt belittled again. She read his psychological profile and heard his every word on the tape and knew he was suffering the subhuman complex, something extremely rare amongst ninja, compared to the inferiority complex. So telling him this was hard on her part. Still, the results were not so exaggerated.

"Naruto… I'm sorry about this" she said with concern in her voice. The blonde did annoy her at times since she returned to the Leaf, but she actually grew fond of him. Maybe because he reminded her of her grandfather, her little brother and Dan. Or because he was like the Will of Fire incarnate. She couldn't tell. But he felt like a family.

She coughed to get the blonde's attention again. "However… there is one other thing we need to discuss." She said seriously. She let Shizune know to leave the room. As the brunette opened the door, four cloaked figures entered the room, passing her. Naruto looked at the four with wondering eyes, when he recognized them.

"Y-you guys…?"

* * *

The darkness of shadows was hiding his figure well. So well that he was enjoying it. It felt like the shadows were embracing him. And he enjoyed every second of it. That's when he was interrupted.

"He's on the move" the figure said with a joyful voice. Then he continued with a serious, darker tone. "**Are we to stop him?**"

"No!" the man spoke. He reached for the cloak and covered himself. Than he turned to the figure. "What about the boy?"

"Which one? The jinchuriki?" "**Or Sasuke?**"

"Both!"

"Naruto seems to be getting stronger." "**And Sasuke is returning to health. And Orochimaru send his team to bring him.**"

"Is that so?" the man turned, showing a mask underneath the hood. "That damn serpent just doesn't know when to accept his limits."

"**You want us to stop him?**"

"No, let him act… for now. I have a feeling that Orochimaru will finally bite off more than he can chew." He said, chuckling. Somehow, he could already tell, how things were going to turn. The upcoming days would soon start the historical moments. Like the moon illuminating the darkness of night, his blazing sharingan could see it.

**To be continued…**


	33. Chapter 32 The signs of darkness

**Chapter 32**

**The signs of darkness**

It was pass noon. The sky filled with only a few clouds, carried by a light breeze, making it a fine day for the villagers. Actually, today seemed like a day when nothing bad can happen. Even the ones in the hospital were in the good mood.

Well, most of them at least. There was one certain boy who wasn't affected by the weather. A certain little brother, who got beaten by his elder sibling. The very man responsible for the massacre of their entire clan. Sasuke was sitting in his bed just hanging his head, thinking about how much power he lacked in his fight. His brother annihilated him. How could he be this weak? How come he couldn't put a single punch on Itachi? Could this mean he wasn't growing in power fast enough? Than he remembered how Naruto managed to handle Gaara, while he could do so little. It nerved him. As well as the fact that his older brother was interested in the loser back then. What made him so special? Or rather how much did the blonde change? It got on his nerves. The brunette gritted his teeth and curled his hands into fists, infuriated.

He quickly calmed down when he heard the door open. When he turned to see who it was, he saw a familiar pink-head and her blonde friend. Both girls were happy to see him.

"Hi, Sasuke." Ino happily greeted the Uchiha.

"How are you today, Sasuke?" Sakura asked. Though she just wanted to hear his voice really. After all, this Tsunade person, who was now the Fifth Hokage, was an accomplished healer. While the other doctors couldn't do a thing, she healed him in a matter of seconds. Although he wouldn't admit it, Sasuke was grateful to her.

"I'm fine." He said unemotionally, not wanting to speak.

Sakura lifted up a sack she was carrying and pulled out an apple. "We brought you some apples. Want some?" She asked. And as soon as she finished the question, Ino tried to take the fruit from her, and thus the two started arguing. Sasuke sighed, wishing they would leave. Then his mind returned to the one guy he wanted answers from. He looked at the box he got this morning from the earlier visitor. Something he asked for. Something to ensure him the advantage.

* * *

Naruto walked along the lake running through the village. His mind occupied by what he heard in the hokage office. It was something grand. Something he'd never expect. His shocked expression was the proof of it. How was the blonde to deal with this? The answer never came… because he noticed someone on the nearest bridge. And that someone was a certain purple-haired, hyperactive, cheerful and sadistic girl. Naruto smiled a little, thinking that the conversation with Anko will clear his mind a little. So he ran over to her, waving to her.

But he stopped when he could see her sad face. He knew about Fukiko's death, but he could tell that it was about something else.

"Hey, Anko?" he asked. The girl didn't even turn to face him. "What's wrong? You look even more down than before." He received no answer. "Is it about Fukiko?"

"…partially…" the Mitarashi girl said with a sad, lifeless voice. Naruto then noticed she was holding herself back from crying. Then she lifted a note in her hand and showed it to the blonde. He didn't have to ask anything. He took the note and read it. It was a note from Fukiko to Anko.

_Dear Anko,_

_If you're reading this, then I am no longer in this world. I'm sorry about it. This note you're reading was meant for you should I fail to tell you anything about your origins earlier._

_Your parents, Anko, well, the truth is their not the way they should be. You and I are not really related like that, though there is technically a relation by blood between us. Let me start from the beginning. My master, Orochimaru, the current S-class rouge ninja, departed from the Leaf years along with some of his supporters. As his student, I was one of them. I used to worship him actually. He took me in after my parents died on a mission. I sensed there was something bad going on back there, that made him a traitor to the Leaf, but I turned a blind eye to it. What made me open my eyes was something inhumane I learned about him._

_15 years ago, I learned that he was working on an 'Immortality Jutsu', a way to expand his lifespan. I learned from his notes that he started, at some point, trying to breed a perfect body. Cloning him self just live few extra years longer. But on that day, my lovely Anko, I learned that this project failed. But my ex-sensei didn't stop despite that. He still used the project to create himself an army of super soldiers, by infusing his genes with other. That's how you originated, Anko. You're an only one to live from that project, a fusion of his blood and mine. But what he was doing in there, what he wanted to do with you, I couldn't allow it. So sabotaged the laboratory, insuring no more clones would be born for a while, and took you away with me to the Hidden Leaf._

_I hoped you'd never have to learn about it, by Kuromaru, who proofed to be the only one to befriend me since that day, warned me you'd figure it out sooner or later. I'm so sorry. My only regret is that now you really are on your own. If only I could somehow make it up to you beforehand. I have no doubt you have mixed feelings after reading this, rejecting me as your cousin or 'mother', but I truly saw family in you. Even in death, I refuse to see anything else than family in you._

_So please, Anko, don't through anything away just because of the truth. I want you to keep going as a person you grew up this far. I hope you'll show yourself as a great kunoichi. And please, stop cutting people during your training routines._

_Yours dearly,_

_Fukiko_

Naruto was somewhat shocked. No wonder Anko seemed so down. He wanted to say something, but wasn't quite certain if he would upset her even more. After all, this was not like hearing about a dango house being closed. Well, maybe in Anko's case it was. But he could understand her position. After all, this reminded him of how he learned of the all powerful demon fox being sealed inside him. This dark feeling you can't bare.

"So…" the blonde started, not really sure what to say, "…After reading this… are you…?"

"I feel horrible, Naru." Anko spoke. "I always wondered about whom my parents were, who my family was. I just couldn't help my curiosity. Before the Chunin Exams began, Fukiko promised me to tell me everything. You know what? I was happy. For real, for the first time in my life, I was happy. And what happens next?" she raised her head, showing something he boy had never expected to see in Anko. He could tell from her voice, but never expected to it.

She was crying.

"Not only my cousin was killed, but *sob* now I learn that she wasn't even really a family in a normal way, if any at all. *sob* I hate it. * sob* I hate it that *sob*… that I wanted to learn it *sob**sniff* so badly. Now I *learn of myself to be *sob* some kind of tube-grown freak. *sob* I don't even know if I was any family at all with her!"

Tears were falling off her face. Naruto has never seen Anko like this. He didn't even know anyone else could cry. He used to cry a lot himself, all lonely and hurt, often after being beaten by the villagers. Anko on the other hand was truly strong. He has never seen her anywhere close to shedding a tear, even out of pain. And now, here stood the Mitarashi girl completely broken. He felt sorry for her.

Than something came to his mind. "Does this change whom you've grown up into?" he asked out of the blue. This caught Anko by surprise, to hear him ask something this wise. "So what if you were born in a lab tube? What if Fukiko wasn't you're real cousin? It's not our origin that makes as. It only shows how we started. It's how you walk through life that defines you. Fukiko still considered you family and raised you. I still like you. And you're still a great kunoichi. It doesn't matter if you were created as an experiment. Anko is still Anko, right?" He finished the last sentence with his characteristic, foxy smile. Anko's eyes widened. While the blonde though what he said sounded corny, the girl actually was affected by the words. He was right. It did pain her to learn the truth, but what she really was didn't truly matter. She may have been born a weapon, by was raised like any other kid. She had dreams, likes, and dislikes, hobbies, limits, emotions. She blushed for a second while eying the blonde, moved by his good-hearted nature. But wait, what was she thinking? Naruto was more like a little brother to her. She pulled herself together and wiped the tears off her face.

"Thanks, Naru…" Anko said cheerfully. Naruto smiled seeing the Mitarashi girl back to her good old self.

Though soon he regretted it.

"So, how about our little sparring, to thank you and keep your mouth shut about me crying?" she asked with a sadistic smile, pulling out a few kunai. The blonde, of course, sweat dropped at the sight. Luckily, he had an excuse to deny.

"Umm… No thanks. I need to see someone. See ya." He said and ran off. While the purple-haired girl was disappointed at first, she smiled. She decided to let Naru off the hook this time around. After all, what bad could happen?

* * *

Tsunade was banding on the window, watching the Leaf's streets. While her predecessors used to do this to see how things were going for the villagers, she was actually thinking deeply about something big. The she wasn't alone in her office. Her two advisors were present. As well as Hidodama and Niigetsu Yamamoto of the Shinobi Enforcers. She didn't know how to lead this conversation exactly. This was unusual after all, concerning something that no one should bug into.

"So, to put it simply, you two are disappointed with their choice, right?" Tsunade asked the advisors, who nodded.

"Indeed, we are." Koharu said, not even bothering hiding her annoyance. "Of all the people to take into consideration, they refused to include Uchiha Sasuke. This is preposterous." She half yelled.

Hidodama gave her a hard glare. "You do realize that you're over stepping your authority with this, right? Unlike the other shinobi, the members of the Shinobi Enforcers of the Burning Leaf chose their members on their own. It was like this since the Second Hokage, who founded the unit. You people don't really get a say on this matter."

"Why you annoying little…" Homura, the other advisor spoke, but was stopped by the female hokage, who walked over to them.

"Enough!" she said with authority in her voice. "I will not tolerate any fights in my office. And for you, Enforcers, just to have these guys think about things, what is your reason for not choosing the Uchiha as the candidate member?"

The busty blonde noticed how the two special shinobi exchanged the looks. It was no doubt that there was something big. Then the mood changed. Something told her this was going to be something real dark.

"It's the seal." Yamato answered. This shocked the advisors, while Tsunade had a disturbing, fear-like expression on her face. "While Kakashi managed to successfully suppress it with the Evil Suppression Seal, its power is only as strong as Sasuke's will to reject the mark Orochimaru imprinted on him. Lately, we've noticed the seal appeared to be weakening."

Now that got her attention. Because it the seal was weakening, it could only mean one thing: Sasuke was willing to use Orochimaru's power. "As you know, the Enforcers, while finding new members, value mostly the potential candidate's loyalty, will and power." Hidodama started to explain. "And if we see any lack of one of these or that the total doesn't reach our expectations, we don't take him into our rangs, as that person is too weak or not trustworthy." And the Uchiha, not only he does not care for his team, but by giving into temptation of using that… **thing**, he already puts himself further away from our interest. Right now, his heart is questionable."

"I can't deny the arguments, considering his arrogance and encounter with Itachi…" Tsunade thought loudly. "I see your reasoning. I respect your decision." She said with authority, shocking the two elderly people.

"Wha…?"

"But, Tsunade… You can't…" they were ready to argue, finding the situation insulting. But…

"Aren't you forgetting your place, people?" the blonde half screamed. "The Shinobi Enforcers may answer before the Hokage only, but even that person can only suggest someone. I can't tell them to make Uchiha Sasuke their candidate just because you say he should join their ranks. Or have you already forgotten for what purpose was the unit found in the first place?" that shut the two up. She was right.

The Shinobi Enforcers of the Burning Leaf was a special unit of powerful shinobi for missions that would normally require a dozens of ninja. And each member of the unit, if having the total of their skills and power summed, was worth at least a standart four-man team. Plus, because of the missions' nature, the Enforcers could answer only to the hokage, to ensure the secrecy of the mission. And now, instead of having six members, as the unit should, there were only four active members.

The advisors sighed in defeat. They couldn't help it. So they just stood up and left the room. Tsunade smiled at the sight of their leave. Then she turned to the two shinobi.

* * *

Sasuke finally got out of the hospital. And he felt somewhat stiff. He needed some exercise. He needed to move to pass this uncomfortable feeling. And to escape the two girls who were tailing him. They were annoying him with just gasps. He needed to loose them. He wanted to be left alone, so he could train. And he needed to train even harder. The meeting with his brother has showed him just how big the gap between them still is. It's like Sasuke haven't grown even a bit to close the gap. Itachi easily over powered him with just a few simple strikes. Then there was this strange genjutsu, Tsukuyomi, which nearly destroyed his mind. And there was Naruto, who took down Gaara, whom he couldn't.

But wait, no. the idiot was nothing. He was just lucky and all. Sure, he may have insane strength, speed, endurance, chakra and so on, but when it comes to skill and actually using your physical advantages in combat, he was still inferior to the Uchiha.

And speaking of the devil, just as Sasuke was about to pass the ramen bar, he noticed the blonde approaching. Good, he could ask him a few questions. There were some things he couldn't get off his mind. Maybe when he questioned the idiot his head will clear. But when he got nearer, he noticed a strange look on Uzumaki's face. It was a face of someone who heard about something too big. It got Sasuke's curiosity. He needed to know.

But it would appear he wasn't the only one. Sakura ran pass him to speak to the blonde.

"Naruto? What's wrong with you?" she asked. Then Ino got next to her.

"Yeah, you look like you've heard more than shocking news. Don't tell me… you…" Ino seemed unable to say anymore.

"You haven't been promoted to chunin, were you?" Sakura asked, with some smile. Nothing surprising really. She wouldn't accept it if the blonde teammate of hers was promoted before her Sasuke. She didn't see it, but her attitude got her kunoichi friend a bit angry. Ino couldn't believe how the pink-head was still looking down on the Uzumaki. But what Naruto was about to say was big.

"Actually, Shikamaru and Ryu were the only ones to get promoted." He said. And surprisingly continued, still sounding strange. "But, umm… Sakura? Do you know who the Shinobi Enforcers are?"

This question caught all three interested, for reason unknown. "Y-yes. They're the Leaf's strongest and most loyal shinobi. They're the strongest ones, second only to the hokage. Each member is considered at least an A-rank ninja. Why?" Sakura asked suspiciously. Something told her she was going to regret asking.

"Well…" Naruto started, and pulled a golden medallion with the carving of the Leaf's symbol surrounding a kanji for fire out of his pocket. "I've been given the title of the Enforcer Candidate. That's why."

Now that got the girls petrified, shocked, broken, defeated, mentally scared, deformed… whatever. This was like hearing the beggar became the world's richest man by selling a grain of sand.

UNBELIEVABLE!

"NARUTO! YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Haruno started began yelling at him with an accusing voice. "THERE"S NO WAY WOULD THEY CONSIDER YOU JOINING THEIR RANKS! YOU"RE TOO MUCH OF AN ANNOYING LOOSER!"

"Actually, Sakura, this isn't so impossible." Ino spoke, getting a confused look from her friend. "My father used to be an Enforcer candidate himself when he was younger. Since he was allowed to keep the medallion, despite being ultimately rejected from joining, I can tell that Naruto's holding the real thing."

"No way. But that means… Naruto is considered, as of now…"

"Considered the most powerful genin in the Hidden Leaf Village? Perhaps."

The girls were now talking about Naruto's unexpected 'promotion', not even noticing Sasuke's reaction. It innerved him. That idiot, not only did he beat Gaara and got Itachi's interest above him, but also was given a chance to one day join the ranks of the absolute elite. To make it worse, not even his older brother was given such privilege. This idiot surpassed his brother with just that. It was… it was…

Unacceptable.

"Naruto!" Sasuke roared, as he pushed the girls aside. He pushed them so hard, they fell on their butts. Now he was giving the blonde boy a dreadful glare. Naruto could clearly see how Sasuke despites him. "Follow me, idiot." The Uchiha said through his teeth, trying to stay calm. Naruto just nodded, getting the idea where this was going. After all, it was no secret just how big the sharingan- wielder's ego was. So Sasuke jumped onto the rooftop, followed by the fox-container. The girls couldn't let it go. They followed them.

After a few roofs, they stopped on a big one. Sasuke glared at Naruto, who seemed to be on his guard already. This brought a smile on Sasuke's face. "I see you know what this is about, Naruto."

"Not really." The blonde answered. "But something tells me that I can't stay relaxed around you."

"Oh, so the Almighty Uzumaki fears me, huh?" Sasuke mocked. Then Naruto glared.

"Do you have a problem, Sasuke?"

"A problem? Yes, as a matter of fact I do." Sasuke looked with his sharingan now active. "YOU ARE THE PROBLEM!" he roared. "I want you to fight me! I want to know why is it you were able to beat Gaara. Why is it that my brother is more interested in you rather than me. I want to know why the Leaf's mightiest shinobi corps is interested in having you in their ranks. JUST HOW STRONG HAVE YOU BECOME, NARUTO!"

Naruto took in every single word the Uchiha said/ yelled. Though the last question reminded him how he himself asked it. He asked the very same question at the meeting in the hokage office. While the Enforcers explained to him that the main reason for it was his display of perception, power and determination, there was also another thing that had them keep an eye on him- both his parents were the members of their ranks. So they had high hopes for him to follow in his parents footsteps. The memory of that made him smile.

That was an opening for Sasuke. He launched at the blonde. He was about to deliver a strong blow straight in the kisser, but Naruto dodged just in time. And before the Uchiha could pull anything, he took a distance. He jumped away to the far side of the roof.

"What the hell, you jerk?" Naruto asked in an annoyed, yet serious tone. "Attacking me like that is a low blow fir you."

"Shut up!" the brunette silenced him. "How come you're this strong? What makes you so damn special? How is it you've become this strong?"

"What is your problem, Sasuke? Afraid of a competition on my part all of the sudden?" Naruto joked. But when he saw that fierce look in his eyes, the blonde got serious. "What's your problem anyway? Why do you want to fight me so badly?"

"Because…" the Uchiha started, trying to keep his cool. But the images of Naruto's growth in power just kept coming. "Because… YOU'RE A LOOSER! AND YET YOU MANAGED TO DEFEAT AN OPPONENT I COULDN'T! YOU GOT HIS INTEREST! I PISSES ME OFF!" he roared and threw a few shuriken at him. Naruto managed to dodge them, only to find the sharingan-eyed boy right before him. Sasuke was about to deliver a kick, but what he kicked was a box. The substitution surprised him a little. He turned around just in time to find Naruto running towards him, ready to deliver a blow.

The blonde threw the punch.

And the Uchiha blocked it. This got Naruto so confused he didn't even notice when Sasuke delivered a punch to his face. Naruto flew some distance before finally stopping and struggling to keep his balance. he rubbed his face in small pain. Wait… pain? How was that possible? He shouldn't be feeling that much pain. How did Sasuke manage to…?

"You're surprised, aren't you?" the Uchiha said proudly, getting the attention. Then he showed his new wrist warmers and ankle warmers. "You see this? I had this Ganju design them specially to fight you. Now I can take on any attack you deliver."

"Is that so?" the fox-container asked, angry. He had enough. "Then bring it!" and without hesitation, he charged. And Sasuke did so as well.

The two clashed. And as Naruto was to deliver another blow, the Uchiha raised his arms for guard. His eyes widened when he noticed the blonde's smile. And he sure learned why. Naruto's punch hit his guard, but he was send sliding and struggling to keep his balance. Finally the Uchiha hit the barrier. He was infuriated. How could he, this nobody, still do this? Sasuke disappeared and reappeared behind Naruto, using his speed, and delivered a barrage of punches and kicks. And every strike that landed on the blonde was painful. But his luck ended when he wanted to kick him in the face. Naruto managed to block it and push him away. Then, Uzumaki kid used his Stunning Light Whip, wanting to catch his opponent. Sasuke smiled, since he was using his sharingan. Therefore, he could copy it. He made the same hand seals as Naruto and activated the jutsu. He had another trick up his sleeve. Or rather he would. But he never succeeded in performing it. He couldn't understand it. Why couldn't he copy this jutsu? He's certain he saw everything. The hand seals, the amount of chakra, its flow… he should have succeeded. Before he could think of an answer, he jumped to his left in time to avoid the electric whip of the blonde's, remembering about the fight. He finally felt he had no choice. He was going to use this jutsu. So he made the hand seals and focused his chakra into his left hand, covering it in lightening.

Naruto noticed that Sasuke was about to use something seriously strong. He had to use something powerful as well. He could use the rasengan, but he still hasn't managed to master it. He still could do it properly. Just then, he remembered this strange sensation. Maybe, just maybe, he had his darker self's experience in performing it. Either way, it was worth a shot. So after he made a clone, the two Narutos started forming the rasengan.

The two boys eyed each other, as they performed their jutsu at the exact time. They glared for a few seconds, intensifying the power of their jutsu. Then, as a leaf flew before them, being carried by a single blow of the wind, they charged, yelling out their battle cries. The girls were scared since their fight started, but what they were seeing now was beyond terror. Sakura jumped towards them, hoping to stop them.

"STOOOP!" she yelled.

But they were already beyond stopping.

Just as they were an inch from each other, someone caught them by their wrists, spin them and threw the two boys, who soon landed on the floor, loosing their jutsu. When they came to, they noticed a familiar silver-head.

"My, oh my. This was pretty drastic of you two." He said with the same, stoic voice. Just what were you two hoping to achieve with these jutsu just now? Hmm?" He didn't get the answer. Sasuke just scoffed and left. Kakashi sighed. He looked at Naruto. He wondered how the blonde learned the rasengan. Well, he would have to ask him later. Right now, the Uchiha kid was more of the importance since he proofed overly aggressive. And needed to make sure he didn't do that again. He disappeared.

Ino was still standing on the edge of the nearby building, stunned by the late events. Finally, she came to her senses and jumped over to see how Naruto was doing.

"Naruto, are you okay?" she asked him as he was getting up on his feet. Sakura finally turned her attention to her teammate and walked over to him.

"See, Naruto?" she started, "This is why it's impossible for you to be considered a future member of the most elite squad in our village." Naruto, with his head still facing ground, turned to look at the pink-haired girl, who now had a sly smile on her. "You're too much of an idiot. I'll admit you got muscles, but no brains. While Sasuke on the other hand is as perfect as always, preparing for his battles, and still adapting to the situation. And if it wasn't for Kakashi-sensei's interference with your fight, you would be out of luck di…" At this point she was cut off by a loud crack. She looked to her left, where the wall was. There was a big crack in the concrete structure, made by none other then Naruto. She looked at him, to see his right eye red. It scared her.

"Sakura." He growled her name through his teeth. "Shut up already." He said with so much venom, she actually rather backed away the yelled at him. She had no doubt he was willing to punch her or anyone. "Don't you dare to ever interfere again, you pathetic…" he stopped. No, he had to calm down. He could tell Dark Naruto was ready to take over. He couldn't allow that. The good blonde held no delusions that his dark persona would just kill her on plain sight. So he took a few deep breaths and jumped off the roof. The girls were both terrified and confused.

What just happened?

**To be continued…**


	34. Chapter 33 The sorrow past

**A/N.:** Sorry to say this, but I'm tired of this. So I'm gonna end things here, on this chapter. Though this doesn't mean the end of the whole story. I just want to start the next story- time-skip. Plus, everything just goes as in the manga.

* * *

**Chapter 33**

**The sorrow past, unknown future**

_The wind blew gently across the forest, carrying leafs through it seemingly endless numbers of trees. The breeze was calming all the nearby animals, which were mostly relaxing, bathing in the streams of sun. The open fields, emerald in their brilliance, seemed to glow. At the sight of this view, the scent, the feeling, anyone would forget about the stressful situation and just wish to lie down and relax. This was more than a garden. It was paradise-on-earth._

_… while it lasted._

_A sudden explosion turned the place into inferno. The animals scattered in fear. The sky filled with birds, some of which, unfortunately, started to burn as the second explosion took place. Then there was another. And another. The two blurs were jumping through the forest, clashing again and again with incredible force. Enough force to ignite the forest. The two finally slowed down, becoming more visible for human eyes. One figure had red, glowing eyes and wings on his back. The other had long hair and horns. Though it was hard to describe them more specifically, since they were silhouettes. The two jumped at each other, crossing their weapons. The sparks created by the last clash nearly showed their faces, but they pushed each other back. Each of them landed on the tree top. They eyed each other. Finally, the winged man raised his left hand, which was by now covered in black lightening._

_"This is the end for you!" he roared. He swung his wings and dashed towards his opponent, ready to deliver the final blow._

* * *

_The blow hit. Naruto screamed in pain. How could things go this badly? They simply had a mission to retrieve Sasuke. This wasn't supposed to turn like this. Or was he simply delusional? This al started in the morning after his fight with the Uchiha. When the blonde woke up, he found Shikamaru by his door. He was the one to tell him about Sasuke's disappearance. The investigation so far showed him being manipulated into defecting. Outside the village gate, trials of four ninja were found. There was no doubt by then whose doing it was- Orochimaru. He finally grew impatient for the sharingan and kidnapped the kid. While the mission was serious, unluckily there were no shinobi available to this mission. Even the Enforcers were out of question. Well, actually, there was Kuromaru, but he was still in hospital, attended to his illness after the invasion. Despite being released on that one day to announce Naruto's candidacy, he was tied back to bed by Tsunade personally. It couldn't be helped. She had Shikamaru assemble a team, which consisted of himself, Naruto, Kiba, Neji and Choji. The five moved immediately to retrieve the Uchiha from Orochimaru's hold. But the mission turned out to be more challenging then they all thought._

_The enemy was the team of Sound Four, all possessing the curse seals them selves. On the route, both teams were leaving one member behind to fight. When it seemed that the Leaf team finally had luck on their side, another sound ninja appeared. Things would be bad because of his genetic ability, the Dead Pulse, which granted him the ability to freely manipulate his bone structure. As Naruto fought him, he noticed that the strange barrow, in which Sasuke was held, opened, allowing him to get out. Surprisingly, the brunette continued on his way to the Hidden Sound Village. The blonde was only able to follow him thanks to Lee's sudden appearance. And he did catch up to the sharingan user at the most historical spot in whole Fire Country- the Valley of the End, where the two founding fathers of the Leaf had their final battle. Naruto tried to reason with him, but Sasuke claimed that the Leaf was no place for him. Finally, the two clashed. Sasuke had the initiative, no doubt. No, change that, he had the advantage with his skills. He even unarmed the blonde._

_At one point, he performed chidori, while Naruto used rasengan. When the two clashed, both boys had no doubts that this fight was all serious. Naruto for some reason felt uneasy. And he knew why._

_He didn't want to lose any bonds. He didn't want to return to loneliness._

_But then Sasuke used the curse mark of his and used the chidori._

_That's how it all came to this. The blood running out of his body felt so warm, while his body started to feel heavy and cold. Sasuke smiled as he removed his hand, deactivating his jutsu._

_"You managed to parry my attack from hitting your heart." He analyzed. "However, now you've got a hole in your lung and useless right arm. Soon, my sharingan will gain new power. And it's all thanks to you, Naruto." He pulled out a kunai, still holding the blonde by his throat. Victory was certainly his. There was nothing Uzumaki could do in his current condition. "DIE!" he screamed._

_To his surprise however, he was kicked. When the Uchiha collected himself, he saw Naruto enveloped in red flames of chakra. Another thing, his muscles seemed to grow, while healing his wounds. But that's impossible. There's no way that's possible._

_"What are you?" Sasuke roared in rage. "Some kind of monster?"_

_Then Naruto looked him in the eyes with his, enraged ones. "I'm… YOU'RE FRIEND!"_

_Then he charged at the Uchiha. In this fight, Naruto had the advantage now. That is, until Sasuke's moves suddenly became more accurate. Despite the power boost, the blonde was loosing again. When he managed to get close enough, it was then that he realized the secret of Sasuke's sudden transformation._

_Three tomoes in each sharingan. Sasuke now had the mature sharingan. And no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get him. The fight stopped when the Uchiha finally delivered a strong blow to his face, making him fall on his head. He was certain he won. Sasuke pulled out his kunai and slowly walked on waters surface towards the unconscious blonde. He wanted him dead._

_He was delivering the killing blow… when his wrist was caught. It stunned him it was impossible. Naruto should be out cold. So how did he stop him? Then he was kicked in the face and send into the boulders on shore. When he stood up, holding his face in pain, the next thing he saw terrified him. Not only the blonde was getting up, but his body seemed to be on fire. Then the flames took shape. It looked like a cloak. But why did a tail grow… on the back… from his birthmark? Another strange thing was… a psychopathic look in the blonde's eyes._

_"Well… what's the matter, Uchiha?" he asked with a dark voice. "Don't tell me you're afraid of a little power up."_

_Sasuke growled at the sound of that. He dashed at Naruto, wanting to finish this, when Naruto also charged. And this is where all hell got lose for Sasuke. Not only did the blonde's movements become unreadable, all his attacks were aimed for kill. Even with the curse mark activated, it did little to help. The hard lesson of that came when Naruto managed to grab his head and press it against the cliff side, running along. With that, Sasuke ended up with a deformed left side of his face. It also forced him to use the second stage of the mark, acquired with the help of Sound Four. He turned gray with long, blue hair, purple lips and hand-like wings. Dark Naruto growled at the sight, yet attacked, with a serious look in his eyes. In the end of this last move, he ended up with his left arm useless._

_But the two finally approached their limits. This was their final attack. Sasuke powered up his now active chidori, which turned black, while Naruto performed a purple rasengan._

_"This is the end for you!" Sasuke called._

_"I'll kill you, Uchiha!" Dark Naruto roared in full hatred. The two jumped towards each other, embraced by the golden light of the setting sun. as it hid behind the horizon, the two clashed._

_"CHIDORI/ RASENGAN!"_

_After the explosion died down, Sasuke found himself standing by the statue of his ancestor, Uchiha Madara, one of the village founding fathers. His eyes were emotionless and tired. He didn't have the strength to think how he got up here. He just wanted to move. Then he felt the strange itching on his left arm. When he reached it, he felt something weird. When he looked, it was all burned to black from the elbow down to the hand, save the finger tips. Plus, he finally noticed his left eyed was damaged, as he was seeing poorly. The idiot managed to do this kind of damage? He needed to see Orochimaru, fast. Just as he made the first step towards the forest…_

_Behind him, a blonde figure stood, barely holding his balance. he wanted to stop the Uchiha, but found he didn't have the strength to say anything. He managed to make one step, before he collapsed._

* * *

Finally, this dream came to an end. Though nothing was a dream. Only now did the blonde realize that. The dreams in the past, about this winged man, they were visions of some sort. Some greater force tried to warn him about Sasuke. He managed to sit, though it was painful. His whole body was still aching, wrapped in bandages. He remembered his promise to Sakura, to bring the brunette back. And he broke it. Because of that, when he woke up a few hours earlier, she scolded him, regretting she involved him into this. She made him a promise she would take this upon herself, releasing him of his promise.

He felt down, since he lost a bond, his other teammate turned hostile towards him, again, and the council was most likely thinking of a way to get him. On the other hand, let them try. Tsunade ensured that there was nothing they could do to touch him. Plus, starting from tomorrow, the pervy-sage was taking over his training, since Kakashi 'quitted'. He looked outside, amazed by the stars. There was something about tonight that made him cheerful. As if he was about to have a reunion with someone.

**The end…**

* * *

**A/N.:** Hope you liked it. Storm God will continue… though not in the Shippuden arcs.


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